Vedanta to invest Rs 3,000 crore to double copper capacity by 2019

Vedanta will invest up to Rs 3,000 crore in copper operations to double the capacity to 8 lakh tonnes by 2019, making the firm India’s largest producer of the metal. The firm led by billionaire Anil Agrawal has a custom smelter, a refinery, phosphoric acid plant, sulphuric acid plant, copper rod plant and three captive power plants at Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) as well as a refinery and two copper rod plants at Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli).

The company has been granted around 250 acres of land by the Tamil Nadu government in the special economic zone area in Titucorin, where it will set up another smelter of 400 kilo tonnes capacity.

Copper, which accounts for over 30 percent of Vedanta’s total revenue, is an important industrial metal with extensive use in sectors such as power, telecom, consumer durables and electrical goods.