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WE CAN CONTRIBUTE 1% TO INDIA’S GDP: VED ANTA RESOURCES CHAIRMAN
ANIL AGARWAL
Anil Agarwal, chairman of Rs 78,000-crore ($13 billion) Vedanta Resources, like a lot of Indian businessmen, has
been extremely pessimistic about
the Indian business climate for a
while now. But the decisive victory
for the BJP in the recent elections
has wiped most concerns and he is
confident that Modi's leadership
will write a new chapter for entrepreneurship in the country. The
London-based billionaire, who
started his career as a scrap dealer
in Patna, now has global interests
in oil, iron ore, copper, zinc, bauxite and aluminium. Particularly
critical of environmental NGOs, he echoed the Intelligence
Bureau's concerns on their role as economic terrorists and expressed confidence that once all his stuck projects start operating, he alone would be able to contribute 1% to the country's
GDP. On a whirlwind trip to Mumbai, Agarwal spoke to TOI
on his new-found confidence and the policy
imperatives that the government should drive to attract what he
described was about $3 trillion worth of idle cash which companies in the US are looking to invest.
“We produce oil, iron ore, copper, zinc,
and aluminium; if we get approvals to
produce all of them to our full capacity,
we will contribute about 1% to the Indian GDP. We can double our oil production to 4,00,000 barrels per day (bpd) if
we are given clearances to invest another
$3 billion. Cairn India alone can give the
government Rs 1,00,000 crore of revenues if the approvals come by. Similarly,
we can double our iron ore and production and quadruple the production of aluminium and bauxite.
You have to give me confidence that you are going to produce
for 20 years so invest $5 billion. Can you believe that we have
invested over Rs 60,000 crore in Orissa creating one lakh jobs and
we are just operating at 25% capacity. However, I am confident
that we will be allowed to operate at 100%. ” he said in an interview
CIL RESTRUCTURING , PRICE FREE-UP BUZZ RESURFACES
The government has again stoked the issue of need for restructuring Coal India Ltd (CIL).
The economic survey has raised the demand for freeing pricing of coal, which it indicated is subsidised leading to distortion in the market and wasteful consumption.
"The process of restructuring CIL needs to be pushed through
swiftly to boost coal production," said the survey without going into the specifics of how that should be addressed.
Till now, the concept of restructuring country's near monopoly
coal miner and world's largest producer has revolved around
breaking up of the behemoth, a holding company actually,
into separate mining companies, all of which currently operates as its wholly owned subsidiaries.
But the restructuring being suggested is not breaking up, that
was being expected by the financial markets. It is about turning CIL board more efficient and responsible.
"What the survey indicated is the restructuring as per the TL
Shankar Committee which didn't recommend breaking up of
CIL but suggested a more professional board," Partha Bhattarcharya, former CIL chairman told dna.
"Regarding restructuring of CIL, the committee felt that it may
not be appropriate to initiate any major restructuring of the
existing legal and administrative arrangement of CIL at this
time. It is, however, suggested that some adjustment in the
board level should be made by making the CMD of CIL, chairman of the Boards of all the subsidiaries and designating
chairmen of the subsidiaries as vice chairman and MD.
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 8 — JULY 2014
By this arrangement the CMD of CIL could be held accountable,"
the committee had suggested in 2007 which the survey has suggested to follow.
Coal minister Piyush Goyal has been denying that the government is considering restructuring CIL arguing that focusing on
raising its ability to raise production in an efficient manner is
what the government is concerned with, something ݡ