It is a well known fact that the foreign funded NGOs operating in India has stalled various developmental projects under the garb of protecting the environment to realise their vested interests and help the country’s enemies. The closure of Sterlite Copper Plant after the protests by the so-called environmentalists has made India a net importer of copper from an exporter for the first time in 18 years with Pakistan and China directly benefitting for the plant’s closure. Vedanta Limited Chairman, Anil Agarwal has now written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to open the plant which is in the best interests of the nation.
In his letter to the PM Modi, Agarwal pointed out that India has lost over Rs 40,000 crore due to the closure of Sterlite plant with also losing $1.2 billion in foreign exchange. He also stressed about how Pakistan’s copper exports have risen by 400% to $550 million in 2019. As per a report published by China Economic Net, copper export from Pakistan to China has increased by around 400 percent. Pakistan exported copper worth 550 million dollars in 2019, compared to 106 million dollars export in the year 2018.
Agarwal in his letter wrote, “My care and concern is that the closure has impacted our country in multiple ways; country has become, for the first time in the last two decades, a net importer rather than an exporter of copper resulting in a heavy import bill.” He further added, “The closure has led to idling and rusting of precious machinery and materials and loss of revenue to the exchequers of both the Centre and the Government of Tamil Nadu in the form taxes, cess, etc.”
Earlier, Agrawal’s Vedanta Group had told Madras High Court that the anti-Sterlite protest was funded by Chinese companies which ultimately benefitted from the closure of the plant. Aryama Sundaram, the legal counsel for Vedanta Group, had claimed, “These companies promoted and funded the agitations and protests against Sterlite. India’s import bill for copper is $2 billion, the demand was being met by Sterlite earlier.”
It is evident that China and Pakistan are benefitting from the closure of the Tamil Nadu based plant which accounted for 40 percent of Indian’s total copper production and more than half of total exports. Majority of India’s copper exports went to China (75 per cent) and Taiwan (13 per cent). The closure of Sterlite’s plant benefitted Chinese companies which were facing a tough competition from Indian exports. Given the better quality of Indian product, Chinese consumers preferred Indian copper and this harmed the interest of the Chinese companies.
The Tamil Nadu government had ordered the complete closure of the plant in May 2018. But the National Green Tribunal (NGT) cleared the reopening of the plant a few months ago. However, the Supreme Court overruled the NGT order and the plant remains non-operational. The matter is sub-judice and the case is pending in the Madras High Court.
Since the closure of the plant, 38 percent of the country’s copper demand is being met through imports from foreign firms. From 2013-14 to 2017-18, the copper production grew at near double-digit (9.6 per cent) and suddenly output fell by 46 per cent in FY 19. The sudden closure of Sterlite plant halted production of 4 lakh tonnes of copper, as the company accounted for 40 per cent of the country’s copper smelting capacity. The total copper capacity of the country is around 10 lakh tonnes.
The Central government must ramp up efforts to ensure that the plant is functioning again as apart from punching a hole in the government’s wallet it is also aiding Pakistan and China which is detrimental to India’s interests.