Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta to invest total Rs 80,000 crore, generate upto 1 lakh jobs in Northeast
Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group has announced an overall investment of Rs 80,000 crore in the Northeastern states. Out of the investment amount, Vedanta had announced Rs 50,000 crore for Assam in the Advantage Assam 2.0 summit earlier this year, the rest Rs 30,000 crore would be invested across Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram, as the company announced on Friday at the ‘Rising Northeast Investors Summit’.
The group, a key player in critical minerals, energy transition metals, power, oil & gas and technology, said the investments would be made in the fields of oil & gas, critical minerals, refining facilities, power, optical fibre, system integration, renewable energy, transmission sectors and data centres in six Northeastern states.
It said that the investments would potentially generate up to 1 lakh jobs as well as enable socio-economic development of the region. The group also plans to expand social impact initiatives such as Nand Ghars, which are modernised anganwadis that function as holistic centres for woman & child development, handloom skill centres, digital classrooms for women and children, and promote sports in the region.
Speaking at the summit, Anil Agarwal said that the Northeastern states are growing in double digits, and the opportunities are growing even faster. “The private sector is ready to be a partner for prosperity. Vedanta is fully committed to investment in the region which has the most amazing natural resources potential, from oil and gas to critical minerals and an exceptional pool of talented human resources,” he said.
Assam, also India’s first site of oil discovery, holds nearly 27 per cent of the country’s crude reserves. Cairn Oil & Gas has been producing from the Hazarigaon field in Assam and also supplying gas to the neighbouring tea estates. The locally-produced gas also contributes in fuelling over 100 CNG buses in Guwahati.
Arunachal Pradesh is home to India’s highest graphite reserves, substantial vanadium and Rare Earth deposits, and nearly 40 per cent of the country’s hydro power potential.