Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal Rules Out Family Succession, Wants His Company ‘Professionally Managed’ 

The executive chairman and founder of the $18 billion Vedanta Group Anil Agarwal strongly hinted on Tuesday (25 December) that the mammoth corporation may not pass into the control of his son Agnivesh or daughter Priya, outlining his view that the company should ideally be turned into a professionally managed corporation, reports TOI.

“Our group is too big. You need to have passion to run it. I built this with passion. They (son and daughter) may not have that passion for this. But I told them that I shall be their Munimji, and will support them for any initiative of their choice. It could be liberal arts also,” Agarwal remarked.

He expressed his belief that the company's future lies in placing management in the hands of professionals, along the lines of US corporations like Exxon Mobil.

Agarwal was speaking to an audience comprising members of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, during an interactive session titled ‘My Life and My times’.

The Vedanta Group is seen to be investing $8 billion across a variety of sectors over the next three years, including expanding capacity to around seven million tonnes at its recently acquired Electrosteel Steels plant in Jharkhand, which currently only produces 1.5 million tonnes annually, with a total capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.

The company had gained control of the steel-making unit after acquiring management control through Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) proceedings.