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Good Time For Government To Exit From Hindustan Zinc And BALCO, Says Vedanta’s Agarwal

Vedanta is ready to increase stake in Hindustan Zinc & Balco, says Vedanta Chairman.



Anil Agarwal, billionaire and chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, gestures as he speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)
Anil Agarwal, billionaire and chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, gestures as he speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Vedanta Group Chairman, Anil Agarwal, is ready to increase stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd. and Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) whenever the government “wants to exit”.

“We love to have the government as our partner if they wish to, but there is no point in them staying as minority partners. So it is a good time for them to exit,” Agarwal told BloombergQuint’s Sajeet Manghat on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit in Delhi.

The government currently holds 49 percent stake in BALCO, the aluminium company, and 29.54 percent in Hindustan Zinc, according to the company websites.

Bullish On Commodities

Agarwal is extremely bullish on a metals like steel, zinc, aluminium, iron ore and petroleum.

I’ve never seen this kind of demand in India in the past... aluminium, copper... petroleum demand is sky-rocketing. I hope we produce our own oil and gas, there is a tremendous consumption spread in the country.
Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group

Cairn India is looking to increase its oil output from 2 lakh barrels per day to 3 lakh barrels per day in the medium term. Vedanta will also invest Rs 30,000 crore to increase Cairn’s production, given that the company manages to produce oil at the lowest cost in the industry, Agarwal added.