Chennai
Agarwal added the stoppage of production at Thoothukudi plant of the firm’s unit Sterlite led to the country having to import copper, spending precious foreign exchange. “We have lost about $200 million in bottomline (profits),” he said. “Forget about bottomline. How can you stop production and start importing? After all, what we did at Thoothukudi was import substitution.”
The Tamil Nadu government had in May last year ordered permanent shutdown of the copper smelter after bloody protests at the plant in Thoothukudi culminated in police opening fire on demonstrators.
Vedanta wants the plant to be reopened, pointing to the economic pressures from the closure. As many as 20,000 direct and indirect jobs have been lost due to the shutting of the smelter and about 98,400 more were affected in the consumer or downstream industries.
“It is a bread and butter issue for Thoothukudi,” he said. “What happened (in police firing) was very unfortunate and our thoughts and sympathies are with the victims. But what is now happening is equally unfortunate.”
The Vedanta plant in the Thoothukudi district produced about 40 per cent of India’s copper output. The company had announced a plan to expand capacity, leading to protests on concerns about pollution. Vedanta denies that the factory has been a polluter. He sought to draw a parallel between Thoothukudi and Singur in West Bengal which was abandoned by Tata Motors in 2008 after protests over its Nano car factory. “Nobody can (afford to) make another Singur,” he said without elaborating.
In 2008, Tata Motors abandoned plans to build a factory to make the world’s cheapest car after protests led by politicians over land acquisition. That pullout was said to have deterred many manufacturers from investing in new plants in the state.
Tamil Nadu, one of the most industrialised states in India, is home to factories of companies like Hyundai Motor and Caterpillar. But it has in recent months seen a decline in foreign investment, leading to concerns about job creation. “I have been saying and will repeat again - the world does not want us to produce. World wants us to import,” he said, adding the shutting down of Thoothukudi plant has led to India importing copper.
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