Today's challenges are the least I have faced: Anil Agarwal

Vedanta Ltd unveiled a plan to demerge its business into six distinct listed entities on 29 September, covering the sectors of aluminium, oil and gas, power, steel and ferrous materials, and base metals. The market’s response to the demerger plan has been lukewarm; however, Anil Agarwal, group chairman at Vedanta, said the move will unlock value and has the potential to create six Vedantas that will be able to meet the growing needs of the Indian economy. He added that everyone will eventually understand the potential of this move. Defending his group’s financials amid a spate of downgrades by rating agencies, Agarwal said the company can rely on its cash flow and refinancing to repay its debt. Edited excerpts:

- Mihir Mishra & Satish John

As an entrepreneur, you must have faced several challenges in the past. How do you assess the current challenge of managing debt repayment and sustaining capital investments?

It’s the least of the challenges that I have faced. We are among the few companies in India which has a cash flow like this. People like to partner with us, and people want to buy our equity. Now, we have raised $35 billion in the US and UK markets and deployed in India. I have been in this business for almost 30 years and have not defaulted once.

About a decade ago, you merged businesses as part of a plan to boost valuations. With the demerger, you plan to undo that. What is your game plan?

This is a story of India, and you know, we are in a business which is import substitute and very difficult to build this asset. It is time to make them independent and grow. So, become independent and grow because these are the most important materials, especially for India, where the demand (growth) is almost double-digit, which is unheard of in any part of the world.