Anil Agarwal, the founder and chairman of the Vedanta Group, is one of the richest men in India. He was born in 1954 in a Marwari family in Bihar's Patna. His family owns more than 70 per cent of the business. His family's net worth is over Rs 32000 crore. Agarwal never forgets to imbue Bihar in his success narrative. Recently, he said his favourite dish is Litti Chokha, a dish from the state.
Anil Agarwal's father used to run a small aluminium conductor business. Anil was a student of Patna's Miller High School. He joined his father's business instead of going to college. He left for Mumbai when he was just 19. He achieved early success in the mid-1970s. He would collect scrap metal from cable companies and sell it in Mumbai, earning a big profit. In 1976, he acquired a company called Shamsher Sterling Corporation that used to manufacture copper. He ran both his businesses for 10 years. In 1986, he built a factory that manufactured jelly-filled cables. To control the input cost, he started manufacturing the metals needed for his factory instead of buying them.
By 1993, his Sterlite became the first private company to smelt copper. He later acquired Madras Aluminium. He became a big fish in the industry after he acquired 51 percent stakes in BALCO for Rs 551 crore in 2001. The next year he acquired government-run Hindustan Zinc Limited. He has a stake of 65 percent.
He also acquired Cairn India, the largest private oil-producing firm. He acquired several companies in several countries.
Last year, he said Vedanta and Foxconn will invest 20 billion dollars in 2022 to build semiconductor and display plants in India.
Last week, he denied that he was planning to sell 5 percent stakes in Vedanta.
Agarwal has over 1,63,000 followers on Twitter. He shares motivational videos on his account. Last week, he shared a photograph with beloved Litti Chokha.
"As you all know, English isn't my first language but I understood the meaning of the word 'homesick' when I had to leave Bihar for work. There aren’t enough words to explain my love for this place. Yahan ki har baat duniya se hat kar hai..(here everything is out of the world)".
He said recently he got a chance to go back to the lanes where he grew up.
Anil Agarwal has reportedly pledged to give away 75 percent of his wealth to charity.
His personal net worth, according to Forbes, is Rs 16,400 crore.
