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TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FY 2023
Transforming Together for a Sustainable Future
In Conversation with the Chairman
As India ascends to a position of power and
leadership in the global arena, self-reliance in
its energy and metals and mining sources will
"Transforming for Good," be crucial for reaching this position. Vedanta
encourages group efforts for with its portfolio of nine key metals and
minerals and vision of contributing to nearly
achieving inclusive, responsible, 50% of the nation’s oil and gas production,
and value-added growth. To has a pivotal role to play. We are boosting
provide real advantages to all production and investing to diversify our
stakeholders, these efforts will be portfolio of assets in support of this. Our
driven by environmental Transforming for Good initiative seeks to
stewardship and social equity, make a difference across the three pillars of
planet, workforce and communities to create
while working within a framework change that is deep rooted.
of strong governance. India’s growth to greater economic might will
be unique, as it will be a low-carbon based,
necessitating unprecedented ingenuity and
innovation. The Vedanta Group’s
non-executive Chairman, Anil Agarwal, takes
us through a host of issues covering the
Company’s plans for the future; our vision for
meeting the dual national priorities of low
carbon use and fast-track economic growth;
the significance of ESG leadership and how
Vedanta continues to assure steady
shareholder returns through prudent
management and exemplary governance.
Vedanta has the vision of "Transforming for
Good". What are some of the key moves
that you are making towards realizing this
vision?
Over the next few decades India will be taking
a path that no nation has taken before. It will
be targeting the highest economic growth
rates in the world while lowering its carbon
Anil Agarwal emissions to reach Net Zero by 2070. Those
Non-Executive Chairman are tough targets to meet by any standards.
COMMUNITIES
For a country as large as India to reach its
decarbonization targets without compromising
on equitable social development, we will have
to start doing things very differently from the
way we have done them so far. This is
embodied in our vision, "Transforming for
Good," which encourages group efforts to
achieve inclusive, responsible, and
value-added growth.
Vedanta sees a bright future for itself as we
partner in India's growth. Our strong position in
base metals, which we are consolidating
further, will give us an advantage. We are also
focusing on ESG leadership as a strategic lever
to excel on all operational parameters.
Simultaneously, we are also diversifying and
strengthening our talent pipeline, securing our
bonds with the community and enhancing the
public support that we derive. Well-founded
ESG leadership, that makes a long-lasting
difference in its areas of impact, is a business
differentiator and we hope to entrench our
position as a low cost producer in this way.
Structural cost reduction and operational
efficiencies are well underway, and has helped
our aluminium and zinc verticals to deliver a
record performance. We will be scaling up
these learnings across our businesses, to do
more with less and reduce our footprint too.
Fortifying our position as a low cost producer
would also answer our inclusive goal as we
provide alternatives to those customer groups
that have big ambitions but modest means of
reaching them.
In all these ways, we can serve as a role model
THE PLANET THE WORKPLACE
We envision playing an even greater role in
the nation's growth and in enabling India to
become self-reliant in minerals and energy.
Vedanta is already expanding its capacities
in the aluminium and zinc sectors.
for other emerging economies on their Additionally, our oil and gas operations, are
journey of energy transition, and expanding their reserves with a vision to
low-carbon growth and development. contribute 50% to India's total oil and gas
production. To strengthen our assets and
boost production, we have invested USD
So, "Transforming for Good" is a very 1.2 billion in growth capital expenditures in
broad concept and we hope to achieve a
lot, across as many areas, as our FY 2023. Looking ahead, we anticipate
initiatives spread and mature. committing an additional USD 1.7 billion in
FY 2024 for various growth projects.
In your opinion, what is Vedanta's role in Promoting further investment in the mining
of these metals and minerals can support
helping India achieve self-reliance in the transition to a just society and to
minerals and metals and in its energy
transitioning by 2070? combat climate change. These
opportunities open avenues for fruitful
India's commitment towards achieving collaboration with the government and
Net Zero emissions by 2070 has been a
major turning point in the global effort to stakeholders at large, to create a
combat climate change. India is setting sustainable future.
the bar for a novel approach to economic
growth that might sidestep the Vedanta has been taking several initiatives
carbon-intensive strategies many nations in support of our organization’s Net
have previously adopted and it can serve Carbon Zero goal. Further, by 2030, we
as a model for other emerging markets. hope to have 2.5 GW of continuously
India’s improved outlook in many ways is operating renewable energy (RE RTC)
attributable to the government’s quest for capacity. We have also implemented an
self-reliance in manufacturing, minerals innovative, market-leading EV policy that
and resources. While several countries will unify our transition to EVs, and we are
have found themselves precariously on schedule to completely decarbonize
positioned, given their dependence on our fleet of light motor vehicles by 2030.
others for key resources, India finds itself
in an advantageous position, particularly Going forward, what are some of the
in creating a resilient supply chain and core areas of focus for Vedanta in the
indigenous manufacturing. next decade?
Our goal of ‘Transforming Together’
Vedanta has a portfolio of nine metals envisages a world that is much more
and minerals that play a significant role environment-friendly, sustainable and
in the development of the country and regenerative. Energy transitioning has
in achieving India's energy and mineral accelerated across the globe and the
independence.
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significance and need for mined
commodities is now better appreciated.
Creating a greener product portfolio and
providing a diverse mix of products that
address a variety of needs is major priority
for us, and we are continuously driving
innovation in this area. We have already
launched two carbon-light and
ultra-carbon light aluminium products and
similar efforts are underway. Greener
products are the true litmus test for our
‘Transforming Together’ endeavour – as a
manufacturer we are trying to make such
alternatives available that serve the needs
of the planet and also of its people. It is
upto our stakeholders to support, adopt
and endorse such products, as only then
will the transformation be truly sustainable.
We will also continue with our strategic
investments and prudent financial
management to ensure steady
shareholder returns and long-term
sustainable growth.
We have been continuously investing in
volume expansion, backward integration
and value-added goods creation, and in
quickly expanding digitalization. All such
moves will continue as opportunities
emerge and business priorities evolve. Our
focus remains on lean operations and on
growth that is backed by strong
governance practices.
Vedanta has been running
large-scale community impact
programmes for several decades.
Please take us through what has
been achieved so far and your
future areas of focus.
We have a vision of enhancing the
well-being of communities across
India by uplifting 100 million women
and children through education,
healthcare and welfare programs. At
Vedanta, we promote equal access
to education, healthcare, nutrition
and sanitation to create
opportunities for people to improve
their lives. This includes ensuring
that the children we support
complete secondary education and
ending hunger and malnutrition in
our communities by 2030.
I am proud to say that in FY23, we
have made remarkable strides
towards combatting malnutrition and
achieving zero hunger. This year,
Nand Ghar has expanded to 4,500+
locations across 14 states,
significantly increasing its reach. As
a part of its nutritional improvement
impetus, Nand Ghar has introduced a
multi-millet nutribar to ensure
comprehensive nourishment for
every child in alignment with the
International Year of Millets and the
Poshan 2.0 initiative to enhance
nutritional security.
Furthermore, our targeted social
impact interventions continue to
positively transform the lives of our
communities. I am delighted to share
that this year, we have touched the
lives of 44 million community
members in India and abroad,
bringing about positive change.