In line with our understanding and belief that sustainability will increasingly play an important role in driving and growing the business, over the years we have developed the ‘Vedanta Way’, focusing on nurturing people, health and safety, environmental stewardship and empowering communities. Sustainability is looking beyond short-term innovation solutions and finding longer term solutions and accordingly we strive for refi ning this approach based on constant stakeholder feedback and the needs of the business environment.

With the commissioning of some of our growth projects, we delivered record production volume performance in zinc, aluminum and iron ore businesses in FY 2009 and reported revenue of US$6.6 billion and EBITDA of US$1.6 billion despite the sharply deteriorating commodity prices and economic environment. All our growth projects are on track and we are well positioned even in these uncertain times to deliver benchmark performance and create shareholder value. We generated excellent returns with an ROCE of 24.4% in FY 2009.

We believe we are best served as an organisation by our sustainable development philosophy, which stands us in good stead. I would like to thank our people for the tremendous effort, dedication and passion they have shown. I am proud of the way they are embracing the sustainable development mindset and am convinced this will serve us well going forward.

Our governance framework at the Board level is well supported by a robust organisation at the execution end in all aspects of sustainability. This helps us balance our growth and challenges of health, safety, environment and social impact associated with our sector.

It is a matter of satisfaction that extensive work being done by the Company in the area of sustainability has been recognised by several external agencies. Going forward, we aim to accelerate our journey on this path with an enthusiastic team and continue working closely with all our valuable partners and stakeholders.