Anil Agarwal (born 24 January 1954) is an Indian businessman and the founder and chairman of Vedanta Resources, a mining and metals group with interests in zinc, aluminium, copper, iron ore, oil and gas. He left school in Patna and started as a scrap-metal trader in Mumbai, and grew through the purchase of government-owned companies. In 2003 Vedanta became the first Indian company to list on the London Stock Exchange.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Anil Agarwal |
| Born | 24 January 1954, Patna, Bihar, India |
| Age | 72 |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Known for | Founder and chairman, Vedanta Resources |
| Education | Miller High School, Patna |
| Spouse | Kiran Agarwal |
| Children | 2 (Agnivesh and Priya) |
Early Life
Agarwal was born into a Marwari family in Patna, where his father made aluminium conductors on a small scale. He chose not to go to university and joined the family business, and at nineteen moved to Mumbai. He has often recalled arriving with a tiffin box and bedding and seeing a double-decker bus for the first time.
Career
In the mid-1970s he collected scrap cable from other states and sold it in Mumbai. In 1976 he bought Shamsher Sterling, a maker of enamelled copper wire, with a bank loan. Sterlite Industries, formed in 1986, made telephone cables and then built India’s first private copper smelter at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.
When the government sold state companies in 2001–02 he bought controlling stakes in Bharat Aluminium Company and Hindustan Zinc, both of which he expanded greatly; Hindustan Zinc became one of the world’s largest zinc producers. He later added the iron-ore miner Sesa Goa and, in 2011, a majority of the oil producer Cairn India for more than eight billion dollars.
Vedanta Resources listed in London in December 2003 and was taken private again in 2018. The group carries heavy debt, and in 2023 he announced a plan to split the Indian company into separate listed businesses. A planned semiconductor venture with Foxconn was called off that year.
Controversies
A plan to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha, sacred to the Dongria Kondh people, was rejected by village councils in 2013 after a Supreme Court order. In May 2018 police fired on demonstrators against the Thoothukudi copper smelter, killing thirteen; the plant has been shut since.
Philanthropy and Family
He has pledged to give away 75 per cent of his wealth. The Anil Agarwal Foundation runs Nand Ghar, a programme to modernise village childcare centres. His daughter, Priya Agarwal Hebbar, chairs Hindustan Zinc. His son, Agnivesh, died in January 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Anil Agarwal born?
Anil Agarwal was born on 24 January 1954 in Patna, Bihar, India and is 72 years old.
What is Anil Agarwal known for?
Known for: Founder and chairman, Vedanta Resources.
Featured image: Anil Agarwal at the FICCI–IIFA Global Business Forum, New York, July 2017. Photo by Bluerasberry, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
