Tuticorin: Vedanta group puts Sterlite Copper's smelter for sale

CHENNAI: Industrialist Anil Agarwal-owned oil and metals major Vedanta group on Monday morning created a buzz - saying its group company Sterlite Copper's smelter in Tuticorin is being put up for sale. The plant has remained closed since May 2018 following prolonged protests by locals that ended in violence and the resultant police firing left 13 dead.
Vedanta, along with Axis Bank, on Monday invited Expression of Interest (EoI) for the sale of Sterlite's copper smelter, with a capacity of four lakh tonne per annum (tpa) and an additional four lakh tpa capacity under expansion. It also put sulphuric and phosphoric acid plants, a 160MW captive thermal power plant, an oxygen generating unit and the residential colony for sale.
"The Tuticorin plant is a national asset, which has been catering to 40% of our national demand of copper and has played an integral role towards India's self-sufficiency in copper. In the best interest of country and the people of Tamil Nadu, we are exploring options to make sure that the plant and the assets are best used to meet growing copper demand of the nation," Sterlite Copper said in a statement later in the day.
The move by Vedanta is viewed by a section as a "ploy" by the group to draw attention to this vexed issue.
Vedanta, while inviting EOIs, said it is committed to the state and its people with the aim to contribute towards development, revenue and employment generation.
"It will take at least 2-3 months for the hearings in the Supreme Court to gain momentum and an order passed (on Vedanta's appeal against the plant's closure). If it comes in our favour, we will operate the smelter. As a business house, we have to look for alternate options. If we get the right offer, we may consider that option too and it would anyway take six months for the EOI process to get finalised," a source in Vedanta told TOI.
According to the source, it has been almost a month since the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the earlier AIADMK regime to inquire into the details of police firing, had submitted its final report to the state. "The report is yet to be placed in the state assembly. The CBI too had submitted its report and even that has not seen the light of the day. Our patience is running out," the source pointed out.