Transforming Vedanta: Priya Agarwal Hebbar On Social Responsibility & Sustainability

Initially, joining Cairn's boardroom made Priya Agarwal Hebbar nervous. Agarwal, who is chairperson of Hindustan Zinc and non-executive director at Vedanta, said that she felt that she was there only because of her father's influence. However, his advice to 'find comfort in discomfort' resonated with her. “I started figuring out why I was there and what value I could bring,” Agarwal told BW Businessworld while recalling her early days. 

While talking about key challenges she faced when joining Vedanta in 2011, Agarwal said, “There were few girls in the company and it was male-dominated. The board was only men when I joined and all head honchos of 50 to 60 plus years and much more experienced. It takes some time for anybody to take a young girl seriously in an environment such as this.” Edited excerpts:

Before your appointment to Cairn's board in 2011, what were your career aspirations, and did you consider joining the family business?
When I graduated in psychology from Warwick University in 2010, I was working towards figuring out what I wanted to do. I did start a job at Ogilvy and worked for Rediffusion Y&R and Korn Ferry as well. Because of my love for animals, I also started the Youth Organisation in Defense of Animals (Yoda) in 2010, which started as a very small online platform to get animal lovers to come and talk in case there's an animal who's injured, etc. But today, it has become one of the largest animal welfare organisations in Maharashtra, and we rescue over 2500 animals each month. We do large-scale sterilisation vaccination programs. 

In 2011, when my father appointed me on the board of Cairn, and a couple of years later, that got dissolved into the board of Vedanta. Something that attracted me about the company was how I can add value, bring change and work towards making a company that can become nature-positive. Foray into the company was ESG and sustainability. We got McKinsey to partner with us and we worked towards setting up goals that we could not even imagine would be possible. But today, we are well on our way to achieving them. 

Three of our largest companies will become net zero within the next decade. Hindustan Zinc will cut its emissions by 50 per cent in the next one and a half years. All our vehicles and logistics are going to become sustainable. The first underground vehicle, which is battery-operated 100 per cent is at Hindustan Zinc. We want to make sure that all our entities challenge the norm of a mining and metals company. 

How did you establish Yoda at 16 without family funding, and what drives its mission?
Yoda was that one thing where I wanted to start on my own to see if I could set something up without my father's help and support. My then-boyfriend, now husband, Akarsh, and I co-founded Yoda together. We began by creating a simple Facebook page, leveraging social media to spread awareness and mobilise support for animal welfare.

Overnight, it got 50,000 members because, at that time, there was not so much going on for animal welfare. People would post about animals at two or three in the morning and we used to drive and go wherever they rescued that animal, take it to a vet and then through the social media platform, we got support and raised funds from people who wanted to help. We'd post medical requests, asking for support and many people stepped up to help. Many people had become very active on that page, and it became something that we realised it was time to formalise Yoda into a structured organisation.

After registering Yoda, we got tremendous support. One of our first donors was a startup, and the Tata Trust also donated and contributed towards us taking care of the working horses of Mumbai. We slowly built a team of vets; we raised funds for an ambulance. So we got one shelter, two shelters, three shelters. I think 70 per cent of it was due to the help of social media. Under the Anil Agarwal Foundation and Vedanta, we established TACO, an animal care organisation dedicated to improving animal welfare. In just two years, TACO has embarked on several ambitious projects, driving meaningful change for animals in need.

What were the biggest challenges you faced when you first joined Vedanta in 2011 and how have you seen the company evolve under your leadership?
One of the key challenges was that there were few girls in the company and it was male-dominated. The board was only men when I joined and all head honchos of 50 to 60 plus years and much more experienced. It takes some time for anybody to take a young girl seriously in an environment such as this. In the beginning, I was very nervous and scared. I did not think I would last as I thought that I was attending the board meetings because my father had pushed me to do so. Every time I would go, I would feel uncomfortable because I did not know what to say or how to behave in a boardroom setting. 

However, slowly, something that my father always told me was that I had to find my comfort in discomfort, and I started figuring out why I was there and what value I could bring. Can a company like Vedanta become one that has 50 per cent women in leadership and across its employees? 

Today, we are already above 20 per cent and we have a goal of 30 per cent before 2030. I am sure we will get to 50 per cent as well, and in 2019, for example, for women, it was illegal for women to go underground, but we went to court and won. Hindustan Zinc was the first company to get women underground. Today, the majority of our mines are led by women, and we have women who are doing everything that they couldn't imagine they could do. We have the first all-women underground rescue team in India at Hindustan Zinc; they went to South America for a rescue competition with 21 teams, and they came in second.

Can you tell us about the outcomes or goals of the ‘Run for Zero Hunger’ campaign, and what inspired you to focus on hunger and malnutrition?
Malnutrition is very close to my father's heart. He is that individual who has experienced what hunger feels like, as he comes from very humble beginnings. He used to go to bed hungry, and he used to say that this is something I do not want any other child to experience because hunger can kill your future. 

The Run For Zero Hunger marathon brought together over 36,000 participants on the ground and thousands more virtually, united by a singular purpose: ensuring no child goes to bed hungry. This nationwide movement aimed to nourish India and create a lasting impact. Marathons have proven effective in mobilising people from diverse backgrounds, ages, and ideologies. In this case, participants ran for something greater than themselves—a cause that transcends individual differences. Through the Run For Zero Hunger marathon, we successfully linked every kilometre run to a tangible outcome: providing one meal to a child, woman, or animal in need for each kilometre completed. This groundbreaking event has set a powerful precedent for future initiatives.

Mining is often seen as environmentally challenging. So how are you integrating renewable energy resources into your mining operations?
We are working towards becoming a 100 per cent renewable energy company; Hindustan Zinc will have reduced its thermal power by 50 per cent in just the next two years, and that's purely through renewable energy. A rating came out just a couple of months ago that Vedanta has been rated the highest purchase of renewable energy in the world, not in India, but in the world. We want to make sure that all our thermal energy transfers to renewable energy over time. We have a goal before 2050, but I am sure we will do it much earlier than that.

What role is Hindustan Zinc playing in making India self-sufficient in critical minerals? 
Vedanta is working towards the energy transition, which will involve critical minerals, renewable energy and technology, as our key purpose is to ensure that we make India self-reliant with critical minerals. According to the World Bank, a successful energy transition requires significant investment in mining, with an estimated USD 1.7 trillion needed globally and over 3 billion tonne of metal required in India alone to support this shift. We know that for the energy transition to happen, critical minerals are a necessity. We are at the front, whether it comes to copper or silver or smaller critical minerals, like germanium, cardamom, etc. 

Currently, we are working on zinc batteries as well because everyone is talking about lithium and there is the scarcity of lithium and the crisis of lithium and there is a proven technology. The oldest batteries were made of zinc. So why not start working towards building zinc batteries that will be safer and cheaper? Whether it's for EVs, data storage, battery storage, or renewable energy storage, one can start using zinc batteries. We have partnered with AEsir Technologies, IIT Chennai and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to work towards developing these zinc batteries and taking the crisis of lithium away.