Vedanta chairman’s son dies suddenly in New York at 49

NEW YORK: Shock rippled through India’s business elite on Thursday after Agnivesh Agarwal, son of Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal, died suddenly of a heart attack in New York, cutting short a life that blended privilege with boardroom heft.

Agnivesh, 49, was recovering at Mount Sinai Hospital following a skiing accident in the US. The prognosis had been positive. Then came the collapse. A sudden cardiac arrest ended it.

Calling it “the darkest day of my life”, Anil Agarwal said his son had been healthy, full of energy and plans. “We believed the worst was behind us,” he wrote, adding that fate intervened without warning.

Born in Patna on June 3rd 1976, Agnivesh studied at Mayo College, Ajmer, before carving out his own path in business. He founded Fujairah Gold and later rose to become chairman of Hindustan Zinc, one of Vedanta’s crown jewels. Colleagues described him as understated, driven and unusually grounded for an industrial heir.

In a personal note, Anil Agarwal traced his son’s journey from a middle-class Bihari family to the upper echelons of corporate India, describing him as a devoted son, protective brother and loyal friend.

The loss lands hard—not just on a family, but on a business empire grooming its next chapter. A life accelerating towards greater influence has stopped mid-stride. The boardroom goes quiet; the legacy, abruptly, is unfinished.