Vedanta to raise volumes across businesses by 50% over 2-3 years

Company says will return significant portion of earnings to shareholders, and ensure attractive dividends

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd plans to increase its volumes by 50 per cent across all businesses over the next two-three years as part of the capital expenditure (capex) chalked out by the company.

"We cannot give you an exact capex figure but over the next two-three years you will see the company 50 per cent larger than what it is now in terms of its volumes across all businesses," chairman Navin Agarwal told reporters on Friday.

He was speaking to reporters after Vedanta's first annual general meeting (AGM) upon the merger of Cairn India with the metalsand-mining company.

Most of the planned capex of Vedanta will be employed in zinc, oil and gas, and aluminium businesses, chief financial officer Arun Kumar informed shareholders at the AGM.

With a strong balance sheet and profitable businesses across all segments, Vedanta Ltd is expected to continue rewarding shareholders with dividends, informed the management.

The company, over the last 15 months, has reduced its gross debt by over ~10,000 crore and has reported Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of ~21,437 crore for FY17, up 41 per cent compared to last year. As on March 31, 2017, the company's consolidated net debt stands at ~71,569 crore.

"We declared record dividends of ~7,100 crore last year, amounting to about ~19.50 per share. In addition, our subsidiary, Hindustan Zinc, also announced record dividends of ~27,157 crore. We have announced a liberal dividend policy that will return a significant portion of our earnings to shareholders, and ensure an attractive dividend payout to shareholders," said Agarwal.

The company is currently scouting a chief executive officer (CEO) to replace Tom Albanese who would be leaving the company by end of August.

"We are currently looking for a new successor to replace Tom and are looking at both options, internal as well as external," informed Agarwal.

While the company continues to struggle for captive bauxite to meet its aluminium smelter requirement in Odisha, in terms of cost, the company said there is no significant value loss. Currently, Vedanta is sourcing its bauxite requirement from Chhattisgarh and importing the ore.