Copper Companies in India
Over three thousand years ago, ancient Indians used copper in Ayurveda (a form of holistic medicine) for surgical tools. Hippocrates followed the Indian practice of using copper in medicine and is now considered the Father of Medicine. This early use of copper proved the value of the metal, and the industry grew from there.
However, until about a decade ago, the copper industry in India consisted of a single state-owned company. Now the copper industry in India takes up about three percent of the entire world market for copper. Three copper companies in India – Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, and Hindustan Copper – have contributed to India’s transformation in market status from net importer to net exporter. Other contributing factors to the growth of the Indian copper industry include changes in global usage, industrial development in India, and domestic increases in the construction, power and telecommunications, and automobile sectors.
The largest producer of copper in India is Sterlite Industries Ltd., which has undoubtedly made a global impact in the copper industry. In 2008, the company purchased the United States’ third largest (but bankrupt) copper producer, Asarco, for $2.6 billion. Purchasing the assets of an overseas company is not unique for an Indian company. One year prior to the Asarco purchase, Hindalco Industries, another Indian producer of copper, bought Canadian Novelis for $5.9 billion. This business move has not only helped to further cultivate India’s global presence in the copper industry, but has also aided in the growth of the country’s domestic copper industry immensely.