Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal calls for greater entrepreneurial participation to unlock value in India’s natural resource PSUs

New Delhi: Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Limited, has shared a post on LinkedIn highlighting the transformative potential of greater entrepreneurial participation in India’s public sector companies operating in the natural resources sector.

Emphasising the need of the hour, to strengthen domestic production and reduce import dependence, he noted that empowering India’s talent pool of capable entrepreneurs alongside strong public-sector talent can accelerate India’s journey towards resource self-reliance.

In the post, he underscored that while India has achieved significant milestones in agriculture, with boosted production, self-sufficiency and surplus, he highlighted India’s strong geological potential. He suggested that a similar production-led approach could unlock significant value across public sector enterprises engaged in hydrocarbons, minerals, metals and fertilisers.

Drawing on research across 24 public sector companies in the natural resources space, Agarwal highlighted the strong human capital within these organisations and the opportunity to combine institutional strengths with entrepreneurial execution to meet India’s growing resource demand.

Citing Vedanta’s own experience with Hindustan Zinc Limited and Bharat Aluminium Company, he pointed to how strategic investments, advanced technology, and entrepreneurial leadership—leveraging the same resources and workforce—led to a 5x increase in employment and a 10–15x rise in production, while also enabling the creation of over a thousand downstream industries.

In his post, he wrote:

“Whenever the government has entrusted Indian entrepreneurs, they have done miracles and made world-class sectors like telecom, aviation, ports, steelmaking, cement, power EPC.

I have done some research and looked at 24 public sector companies which are in the natural resources sector – hydrocarbons, minerals, metals and fertilizers. These companies have very good human resources, and with entrepreneurship, they can try and fulfil India’s demand, which is the need of the hour.

India has done very well in agriculture, which is above-the-ground. We have boosted production and achieved self-sufficiency and surplus. Now the time has come for below-the-ground, namely hydrocarbons, minerals and fertilizers. India has the best geology.

We are the only ones who have experience in public sector. In Hindustan Zinc and BALCO, with massive investment and advanced technology, using the same resources and managerial people, we increased employment by 5 times, and production 10-15 times. More than thousand downstream industries have been created.

The same thing can be tried with our public sector. Of course, there will be no retrenchment. It is very challenging to raise funding in this sector, but our entrepreneurs can do it on the back of amazing reserves and resources.

The purpose to is reduce imports and fulfil our Prime Minister’s vision of an ‘’Atmanirbhar Bharat.”