Jaipur: Metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources can make fresh investments of over USD 30 billion in India if the investment climate in the country remains positive, its chief Anil Agarwal said.
"We have invested heavily in India - USD 30 billion in last ten years. Numbers will never be a constraint. It is going to be more than previous USD 30 billion now if things remain positive," stated Agarwal in an interview here. He exuded confidence that things are looking positive with the change of guard at the Centre and India has caught the fancy of the world. "India is being discussed globally. There is a big difference in the investment climate.
Everybody is discussing in their board rooms that India is opening up. "Give them more confidence. Be more lucrative. These companies will not come for charity. They will come for profitable venture and we should not be scared of giving them better proposition than other countries," he said. Talking about Vendanta's future investments in India, Agarwal said, "The company is looking to invest USD 6 billion in next two to three years, including USD 3 billion in oil and gas and remaining USD 3 billion in other businesses like zinc and aluminium." He said the company is keen on investing in coal and is looking to participate in the ongoing mines auctions.
The 61-year-old NRI billionaire who recently, along with his family, pledged 75 per cent of wealth, amounting to USD 2.6 billion, for the good of society said he is the "son of the soil and eradicating poverty and creating jobs in India was his commitment." "I think I can usher in changes in my India in my own way by investing here. I understand India and I will do everything possible for my country," he said. "All our shareholders have made lots of money from us. If we go with the proposal of any kind which is a good venture, I think shareholders will trust us. We have got most of the money from foreign shareholders," he added. At the same time, making profit should not be viewed as "sin" as the money is being roped in for betterment of the economy.
"Sometimes, making profit becomes a sin in India. Rather, it should be encouraged so that you should be able to pay the tax, you would be able to re-invest the profit. Nobody keeps the money in the bank. If they make the profit they re-invest," he said. He also stressed on the need to give more recognition to entrepreneurs in the country on par with nations like the US. "One thing I have seen all over the world is that there is recognition to entrepreneurs. It is said five people built America... they have not said politicians, they have not said bureaucrats, all five were industrialists.
"India needs to recognise and give due respect to entrepreneurs and industrialists who take initiatives to create jobs to bring investment and create a large industry," Agarwal said. He advocated keeping the policies "very simple" and "transparent". "Instead of lots of approvals... have the self disclosure system and if they don't follow the rule they can be heavily penalised. That will definitely accelerate the growth and development in India," Agarwal said.
The government will have to make its policies better than other countries to motivate investors not to go to China, Brazil, Mexico, Chili or Australia and invest in India. "Interference should be minimised", he said, adding that a country like China which has less resources than India is able to attract investment in the range of USD 120 billion to USD 150 billion per annum in comparison to a merger USD 10 billion or USD 15 billion per year in India.
"We have to step it up 10 times, then only we will reach at world level. Our advantage is that in natural resources we are better positioned than China," he asserted. The whole world is eyeing India as a huge market alone and it doesn't want the country to be self-sufficient. It wants India to remain an importer, Agarwal said. "We are an economy of USD 1.3 trillion and imports are at USD 500 billion," he said, terming it unfortunate that despite huge resources, India relies heavily on imports for electronics, oil and gold. "For making 'Make in India' a success, we need to encourage 'Find in India', which should be applied to Indian natural resources sector," he added.
