Vedanta to invest 3000 crore

Mining conglomerate 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). “We will invest Rs 2,500-3,000 crore in our copper operations to double the capacity from 400 kilo tonnes at present. This will happen by 2019,” CEO of Vedanta’s Copper business R Ramnath . Copper, which accounts for over 30 per cent of Vedanta’s total revenue, is an important industrial metal with extensive use in sectors such as power, telecom, consumer durables and electrical goods. 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, he added. After the addition of this facility, Vedanta will become India’s largest copper producer.