Vedanta Ltd. shelved plans to sell its copper smelter in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and stepped up efforts to restart the plant, according to people familiar with the matter. The plant accounts for nearly 40 per cent of India's copper production.
After abandoning the seven-month process of unloading the 400,000 tonnes a year Sterlitt copper plant, the company will now work with local residents to restart the plant, which was shut down due to environmental concerns, the source said. The source asked not to be named because the information is not public. The Supreme Court is due to hear Vedanta's request to lift the local government's order to close the plant on February 21.
Restarting the smelter would lead to a surge in Indian copper production and reduce imports. The refined metal will play a major role in India's shift to electric cars and renewable energy, and has attracted the interest of the billionaire Gautam Adani group, which has ambitions to become one of the country's biggest copper producers.
A Vedanta spokesman said in an emailed statement that India "cannot afford to permanently close this plant at a time when the country's copper demand is at its peak," in response to queries about the company's cancellation of the sale process. "There is a positive impact among the people of the area, with more and more voices coming out in support of the reopening of the plant."
The company, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, was working with Axis Capital Ltd. Partnered to sell the assets and placed a newspaper advertisement in June inviting potential bidders to bid. The smelter has been closed since 2018 on the orders of the state government after police opened fire on villagers protesting pollution from the smelter, killing more than a dozen people.
A Vedanta spokesman said the closure had made India a net copper importer for the first time in nearly two decades.
