Restarting stalled mines can help achieve $5 trillion economy target: Anil Agarwal

Metals and mining magnate Anil Agarwal on Tuesday said around 500 mines in the country are currently not operational due to various disputes, and restarting them would help achieve the target of India becoming a $5 trillion economy.

Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources, was speaking at an Assocham session on 'Future of Manufacturing in India'.

"The maximum revenue comes from the natural resources. Today we are just at the tip of the iceberg... We have today 500 mines which (are) not operating for some dispute. Let the production goes on. Let the production be doubled. If the production is doubled, there is no question we will not have our 5 trillion dollar target...," he said.

Agarwal also pitched for "self-certification" as seeking clearances took years.

"You make a huge penalty if we don't follow the norms but going through the process of getting clearances takes years. Somebody wants to increase the production, that itself takes years of time.

"(Through) self-certification, people can increase their production to at least to double...," he said.

Agarwal also said "phenomenal" wealth would be generated if 20 divestments happen yearly, unlike the present one or two every year.

"The kind of wealth which you will get will be phenomenal," he said.

Advocating privatisation, he said "nowhere in the world government runs the business."

Stating that the country's discoms were not operating well, Agarwal pitched for their privatisation and digitalisation.

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