Sterlite Copper is a subsidiary of Sterlite industries, a company owned by Vedanta Limited.
History
It was originally incorporated as Rainbow Investments in 1975, the name of the company was changed to Sterlite Cables in 1976. It was later renamed Sterlite Industries in 1986. With a restructuring in July 2000, the company is left with only a metal division comprising copper and aluminium divisions.
In 1994, it acquired Madras Aluminium Company (MALCO) for 55 crores. Sterlite and its associate companies took a 55% stake in India Foils for 50 crores. This improved Sterlite's product mix from aluminum metal to aluminum foil with the largest market share of 65%. In 1999, the company acquired Copper Mines of Tasmania.
In February 2011, Sterlite Industries acquired Lisheen Zinc Mine in Ireland from Taurus International S.A., for a share value of approximately $546 million. In September 2013, SESA Goa, Sterlite Industries and Vedanta Aluminium merged to form Sesa Sterlite Limited. It was listed on the NYSE in June 2007.
Overview
In 1992, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation was allotted a plot in Ratnagiri district's Zadgaon village. On December 13, 1993, over 30,000 people of the city marched to the unit and demolished the quarters for the construction workers and some other structures. After that incident Sterlite was relocated to Thoothukudi.
Three state governments, Gujarat, Goa, and Maharashtra have refused permission to the Vedanta Group to set up its 40,000 tonnes capacity due to its high polluting nature of the Sterlite copper smelting plant before the company managed to convince the Tamil Nadu government. Since its commencement in 1997, the plant had been found on numerous occasions to flout the pollution norms with impunity and foregone permit requirements by pollution regulators, as observed by the courts.
Sterlite operated the largest copper smelter plant in India, in Thoothukudi from 1998 to 2018. The plant was not operational from March 2018 and was shut down by the Government of Tamil Nadu on 28 May 2018 after protests from locals. The plant also included a refinery, a phosphoric acid plant and a sulphuric acid plant. The company's main operating subsidiaries are Hindustan Zinc Limited for its zinc and lead operations; Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty Limited for its copper operations in Australia; and Bharat Aluminium Company Limited for its aluminium operations. It also operates a copper mine in Australia.
COVID-19
In late April 2021, considering the COVID-19 situation and oxygen requirement, Sterlite Copper received special permission from the Government of Tamil Nadu to produce medical oxygen at their copper smelter plant in Thoothukudi, which was closed since 2018 after the state government's order. The company generated and despatched over 542.92 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen by June 2021 to help India deal with Covid-19. This is in addition to 953 oxygen cylinders containing 6671Nm³ of gaseous oxygen were supplied to meet the requirements of COVID-19 patients and hospitals. It also donated to the Government of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund in April 2021.
Financials
The company reported ₹1,055 crores as its operating profit in India in the financial year 2018. In FY20, it recorded an operating profit of negative ₹300 crores. It reported a loss in Ebitda of ₹235 crore and a revenue drop by 57% to ₹10,739 crore during the fiscal year 2018-19, compared to FY 2018-17, primarily due to the shutdown of Thoothukudi smelter in Tamil Nadu. In 2017-18, the company reported an Ebitda profit of ₹1,055 crore. The company's revenue was ₹24,951 crore in the FY18.
Controversies
In 2001, Sterlite industries, BPL and Videocon were found guilty by SEBI of having colluded with Harshad Mehta and 17 brokers (10 from BSE and 7 from NSE) in a bid to corner shares and rig shares prices. This resulted in a ban on the company from accessing capital markets for 2 years. In 2003, Vedanta Resources (UK) was listed on the London Stock Exchange in the second largest floatation of the year in LSE. Vedanta Resources is a holding company that owns many entities including a large proportion of Vedanta Limited and Sterlite industries.
Thoothukudi violence
The Thoothukudi Copper Smelting plant has been long-opposed by the local residents for polluting their environment as well as causing a range of health problems and has been subject to several closures, on grounds of violating environmental norms.