Anil Agarwal 'Invites Investors' As Alumina Refinery Expansion Begins

Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal made an emotional appeal to Indian investors to join him in developing Odisha's Kalahandi district, which houses the group's alumina refinery.

The refinery, with a capacity of 2 million tonne per year, that began in 2007 faced opposition from local groups and NGOs that Agarwal claims were backed by the Church of England. In a long post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Agarwal described his journey in building infrastructure in the Naxal hit area and the opposition he faced.

"Not everyone wanted the project to succeed. We followed every regulation and every norm. But a group of NGOs, supported by the Church of England, were determined to disrupt the project. They influenced political parties to join them. The world doesn’t want India to become a producer. We spent our time battling vested interests instead of expanding the refinery," he wrote in the post.

The comment from the Vedanta Group Chairman comes ahead of a proposed expansion of the Lanjigarh Alumina plant, with the hope that there is no repeat of the disruptions that the company faced earlier. Earlier this year, the company announced an expansion plan that would take their alumina capacity from 2 MPTA to 5 MPTA in less than two years. This process is set to pick up speed.

Once completed, the company said, it will be the world's second largest alumina refinery outside China.

The invitation to investors in Agarwal's post is also in the context of the proposed expansion, according to people aware of the matter.

The alumina refinery in Lanjigarh town of Kalahandi has a 90 MW captive power plant, which was commissioned in 2008. It feeds Vedanta’s aluminium smelters at Jharsuguda in Odisha and at Bharat Aluminium Co. in Korba, Chhattisgarh.

Vedanta recently incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Vedanta Iron and Steel Ltd., as part of its plan to spin off separate listed companies.