Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal on Friday said India should auction its natural resources, like it has done for telecom spectrum, to strengthen and rejuvenate the economy.
"Spectrum auction success should lead to auction of natural resources, which has capacity to generate larger funds, employment and fight poverty," he said in a statement.
Companies won critical wireless telecom spectrum in metros like Delhi and Mumbai and several other cities in an intensely fought 10-day auction that ended on Thursday, giving the government over Rs 61,162 crore.
(Read: 10 things to know about 2G auction | Who won where)
Stating that no country can develop without manufacturing, Mr Agarwal, whose various investments in India faced bottlenecks in the recent times, said the fall in GDP growth can be attributed largely to sluggish manufacturing growth in India.
The Indian economy is estimated to grow 4.9 per cent in the ongoing fiscal year (FY14), up from 4.5 per cent a year-ago, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
"Further, in states where manufacturing drives growth, the economy is in shambles, thanks to the artificial shortage of resources," he said.
India did not have large bauxite mining in more than 35 years and gold and copper mines are awaiting to be explored, he said, adding that spending billions on imports makes no sense when India has its own reserves and resources.
"In Goa, it is a matter of survival for over one-third of the state's population. The mining ban has paralysed almost 20,000 trucks. But the biggest loss is to the economy, with the loss figure touching Rs 25,000 crore," he said.
"We can keep these reserves for another 100 years, but ultimately, their utilisation is necessary to benefit the very citizens whose interests we are purportedly protecting with the ban."
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