Some thousands of years ago, ancient people of India used copper in Ayurveda, which is a holistic form of medicine for surgical tools. Hippocrates, who is the father of medicine, followed Indian practice of using copper for medicinal purposes. The early usage of this form of metal added its value and from the industry began to grow. However, until a decade ago, the copper industry in the nation had only a few companies. Now, the situation is that the copper industry in the nation takes up 3% of the entire world of copper market. The country has earned the status of net exporter of copper from the position of net importer of copper.

Factors contributing towards the development of copper industry in India:

Some of the factors that contributed towards the development of copper industry in the nation are given below:

• Domestic increase in industries like automobile, telecommunications, power and construction

• Industrial development in the nation

• Increase  in the global usage of copper

Top four companies in Copper industry in India:

The names of some of the top producers of copper in the nation are given below:

• Sterlite Industries Limited

• Hindustan Copper Limited

• Hindalco Industries Limited

• Jhagadia Copper Limited

Some of the details regarding these top four copper producers in the nation are given below:

Sterlite Industries Limited:

Sterlite Industries Limited is the country’s largest non-ferrous mining and metal company with the stats of one of the developing companies in the private sector in the nation. The stocks of this company are listed in the National and Bombay Stock Exchanges and it holds the pride of being the first mining & metal company in the nation to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. They are primarily engaged in commercial energy, lead, zine, aluminum and of course copper business. Their main product list include copper cathode and they have a copper mine in Australia, which is operated through their group company.

Hindustan Copper Limited:

Hindustan Copper Limited is a Government of India enterprise that came into existence in the year 1967. The company holds the pride of being the country’s only integrated copper producing company encompassing casting, refining, smelting, beneficiation and mining of refined copper metal. They have copper plants in the states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Their main product list includes copper concentrate, copper cathode and continuous cast copper rod, while by products include copper sulphate among others.

Hindalco Industries Limited:

Hindalco Industries Limited is a group company of the Aditya Birla Group and the company came into existence in the year 1958. They are leaders in the copper industry through their copper unit called Birla Copper, which produces cast copper rods, copper cathodes and other by-products like DAP fertilizers, silver and gold. Their copper unit is located in the city of Dahej in the state of Gujarat and it holds the pride of being the largest single-location copper smelter in the world. The smelter has a capacity of nearly 5,00,000 tpa and it uses state-of-the-art technology.

Jhagadia Copper Limited:

Jhagadia Copper Limited is the largest manufacturer of LME Grade A copper cathodes with the help of secondary smelting route in the nation. The company was established in technical collaboration with Outokumpu Technology AB of Sweden.  The company uses top blown rotary converter as its main furnace with a view to get flexibility in the handling of raw materials. Their copper plant capacity is 50,000 MT per annum of copper cathodes. It is an ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSS 18001:1999 certified company awarded for occupational health & safety management system standards, environmental management system standards and quality management system standards.

Thus, these companies contribute a great share towards the development of copper production in the nation.