Vadodara: Billionaire Gautam Adani-led ports-to-power conglomerate Adani Group is constructing the worlds largest copper manufacturing plant in Mundra, Gujarat at an investment of $1.2 billion, media reports said.
The facility aims to reduce Indias reliance on copper imports and support the countrys energy transition.
The first phase of the plant is set to commence operations by the end of March, and it is projected to reach its full-scale capacity of 1 million tonnes by 2029, reported NDTV.
India is joining other nations, including China, in expanding copper production, a crucial metal for the shift away from fossil fuels.
Copper plays a vital role in technologies crucial to the energy transition, such as electric vehicles (EVs), charging infrastructure, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, and batteries.
Adanis copper plant is being developed concurrently with Vedanta Ltds efforts to reopen a long-shut 400,000-tonne plant in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, according to the report.
At the moment, Hindalco Industries Ltd operates the countrys largest copper smelter, with a capacity of 0.5 million tonnes.
Copper, ranked as the third most used industrial metal after steel and aluminium, is experiencing increasing demand due to the rapid growth of renewable energy, telecommunications, and electric vehicle industries.
Despite this demand surge, Indias domestic copper production has fallen short, resulting in a higher reliance on imported copper.
The countrys copper imports have consistently risen over the past five years.
On a global scale, copper production is more concentrated than oil, with the top two producers, Chile and Peru, accounting for 38% of world production.
