The founder and chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc Anil Agarwal, in an interview with the Financial Times on May 23, said he was planning to step back from running the company amidst protests against Sterlite Copper, a subsidiary of global mining conglomerate Vedanta, in the city of Thoothukudi, in Tamil Nadu, India.
The protests turned into a bloodbath after at least 11 people were killed in police firing. Also, several others including women and children were injured.
The protesters have been demanding the closure of the copper smelter plant in the region and a halt to the expansion plans for allegedly polluting the environment.
Who is Anil Agarwal?
Anil Agarwal, who holds a 71.4 percent stake in Vedanta was born and brought up in a Marwadi family in Patna.
He dropped out from school at the age of 15 and joined his father's small aluminium conductor business.
He slowly began trading in scrap metal. He used to collect the metal from cable companies in other states and sell it in Mumbai. He went on to expand his business and became the mining business tycoon that he is today.
In 1979, Vedanta's acquisitive journey started when Agarwal brought a copper company, according to NDTV.
Vedanta, which is the first Indian company to list in London in 2003, has businesses spread across the world, including India, Africa, Ireland and Australia.
After the recent unrest, Vedanta said in a statement that it is working to ensure the safety of its employees, facilities and the surrounding community.
Meanwhile, Agarwal took to Twitter to say that his company was the victim of a foreign conspiracy. He also said that this conspiracy was aimed at keeping India reliant on imports. However, he didn't name any specific countries or companies.
