In a conversation with Zee Business, Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta talks how India can become self-reliant through a two-year plan in order to reduce dependence on crude oil and metals from abroad.

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"This is an alarming situation for us as we are going on with the imports. There are no other options available for us," Agarwal pointed out. He further said, "It is not that we cannot make the things that we are importing. The government policy is also very clear that these things should be made in the private sector and there should be foreign investment."

 

"We have such a huge wealth of people and we should encourage them to take more risks," he noted. Furthermore, Agarwal pointed out, "In India, we make less than one million barrels. We can make the cheapest oil in the world and can produce three million barrels in two years as our aluminium production can also increase."
"We can produce the cheapest aluminum and gold in the world. We have such an immense reserve of copper yet we import copper. We can go forward to accomplish all these by initiating a two-year target," Agarwal said.

Crude oil prices jumped again on Wednesday in the midst of Russia-Ukraine conflict, as per a Reuters report. There has also been a new U.S ban on Russian oil.

The price of a barrel of crude, already on the march higher in January on supply worries and expectations of a strengthening global economic recovery, has rocketed upward since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Oil is now roughly double its early December low.

"The oil shock by nature is an accruing one, not a one-off, and the potential for the market to hit $150 before returning to $100 is easier for investors to digest," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, as per a Reuters report.

The global benchmark Brent was last trading at $131.39 per barrel, up 2.66 per cent on the day but still off a peak of $139.13 touched on Monday.