Silver’s shine here to stay, says Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal after 125% jump in 2025

Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal on Tuesday highlighted silver’s sharp rally in 2025, saying the metal has finally emerged from the shadow of gold and is entering what he described as a long-term structural phase driven by technology-led demand.

In a post on social media platform X, Agarwal said silver has delivered a year-to-date appreciation of 125% in dollar terms, sharply outperforming gold, which has risen 63% during the same period. While acknowledging that gold has also had a strong year, Agarwal said silver’s returns have been almost double, underscoring a shift in investor and industrial interest.

Agarwal said the silver story is only the beginning, arguing that the metal occupies a unique position among commodities. According to him, silver is the only metal that combines intrinsic value with strong functional demand.

He pointed to new technologies such as solar cells and defence equipment, where silver is a key input, as drivers of long-term demand. Agarwal added that as India’s only silver producer, Vedanta Group is seeing this trend play out directly through its operations at Hindustan Zinc.

“Prices will go up and down, but silver’s extraordinary shine is here to stay,” Agarwal said in the post.

The comments come at a time when silver has become an important profit driver for Vedanta Group, primarily through its flagship mining arm Hindustan Zinc. The company’s latest financial results underline the growing role silver is playing alongside zinc in its earnings profile.For the quarter ended September 2025, Hindustan Zinc reported a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 2,649 crore, marking a 19% sequential increase. Silver alone contributed nearly 40% of the company’s overall profits during the quarter, translating to around Rs 1,060 crore. This highlights the strategic advantage the company enjoys as one of the world’s top five silver producers.Silver revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 1,706 crore, up 10% quarter-on-quarter and 20% year-on-year. The sharp increase was driven by a combination of higher global prices and steady operational performance. Silver is produced as a by-product during the mining and refining of lead and zinc ores, and its contribution to earnings has steadily risen as prices have strengthened.

For Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc, the rising contribution from silver is also helping diversify earnings at a time when base metal prices can be volatile. Silver’s growing share of profits provides a natural hedge and enhances margins, given that much of the production cost is already absorbed within the zinc and lead operations.

As one of the few large, integrated producers with meaningful exposure to silver, Hindustan Zinc stands to benefit if the trend Agarwal highlighted continues.

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