Vedanta to invest Rs 70k cr in India; be world's 5th largest co

NEW DELHI: NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group will pump in a whopping Rs 70,000 crore in India by 2011-12, a stride that will make it the world's fifth largest metal and mining entity rubbing shoulders with the likes of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. "We intend to invest Rs 50,000 crore in (the) aluminium sector and Rs 20,000 crore in other areas like copper, iron ore and zinc by 2011-12 in India," Vedanta Group Executive Chairman Anil Agarwal said. Of the proposed investment, about 50 per cent have been invested while the fund for the rest are tied up, he added. "We are sitting on Rs 30,000 cash (for the projects). There is no funding problem," Agarwal said ruling out any adverse impact of the global economic slowdown on the plans. After executing the Rs 70,000-crore investment plans in the country, Agarwal said, Vedanta's production would increase manifold and it would clinch the position of world's fifth largest metal and mining company from the present tenth. With the proposed capital expenditure, Vedanta Group intends to augment its annual aluminium production to 26 lakh tonnes from the current five lakh tonnes besides enhancing the iron ore output from group firm Sesa Goa to 25 million tonnes per annum from 10 million tonnes a year now.