In the dusty streets of Patna, a 15-year-old boy had no option but to drop out from school and help his father with scrap dealing business. The story of his success is one-of-its-kinds and is as interesting as any Bollywood movie may look. He is one of the very few living men, who have literally started from scrap and reached to his stature, all by himself
His story of making it to the list of heavy weight businessmen is truly inspirational.
After working with his father and collecting scrap for 4 years, Anil moved to Mumbai where he started working as a scrap dealer and began melting metals. His income started to go upwards and he began saving some money doing this. He worked his way up and then turned towards Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and established India’s first copper smelter here.
In 1976, Anil gave a new turn to his career after he set up Vedanta Resources. He saw a need to set up his business abroad and opened the headquarters of Vedanta Resources in Britain’s capital London.
The company extended its operations in dealing of copper, aluminum, zinc, lead and iron ore and now operates from Zambia, South Africa, Australia, Ireland and many other countries.
In 2003, it became the first company to get listed in the primary list of London Stock Exchange. The progress did not stop there and in 2007, it was on the New York Stock Exchange, too. In the year 2012, Anil Agrawal was featured in the Forbes list of of rich people and bagged 314th position with wealth worth $3.5 billion.
Anil Agarwal has seen poverty and suffered its pain from very close quarters. In 2014, he pledged 75% of his wealth to be donated to the poor and needy. If you calculate it in Indian rupee, it comes to a huge Rs 21,000 crore, which the maximum donated by any Indian.
It does read like an unbelievable story but Anil Agarwal has shown the world that no feat is far enough. He rose above from poverty, became a successful businessman and built an empire many would never have imagined.
