Vedanta sees lot of strength in India, to invest more, says CEO (The Hindu Business Line – October 3, 2016)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 3: Vedanta Ltd is keen on the next stage of investments in India as it “sees a potential for faster growth trajectory than in its international businesses,” says Tom Albanese, CEO.

Albanese, who is in Chennai to participate in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, says apart from the strong promise in mineral discovery and development of mining assets, “there is a lot of strength in India to make us want to invest”.

Vedanta’s next stage of investment plan is on the anvil, but there are immediate plans to step up output across the board, including mining, aluminium production and copper smelting. These will help to better exploit capacities and utilise the investments done over the recent years.

The factors contributing to Albanese’s optimism are improvements in the policy environment as compared with three year back; shifts in the international market scene as metal prices stabilise and demand grows; and opportunities for long term sustainable growth in the domestic market for copper.

Over $8 billion investments have been done over the last decade in aluminium smelting, associated power plants but are unutilised because of the legal and policy issues. But as of April 2016, these have been “unblocked”.

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