Hindustan Copper to raise output by 30% as global demand zooms

State-run Hindustan Copper Limited is targeting a nearly 30% increase in production this fiscal year and expects the increasing demand from AI-driven data centres, electric vehicles and power grid upgrades to keep global copper markets tight and prices elevated, a top company executive said.

“The company should produce roughly 4.7 million tonnes of ore in 2026-27," Hindustan Copper’s managing director, Sanjiv Kumar Singh, told ET, adding this will be 28-30% higher than 2025-26 and most likely the “best-ever year” for the public sector undertaking.

The targeted jump in output will come from its mines at Ghatshila in Jharkhand and Khetri in Rajasthan.


Singh said all tenders for the Malanjkhand Copper Mine, the company’s biggest mining operation, were awarded by March 31.

“Most of them have started execution,” he said.

India’s only producer of copper concentrate is on course to produce 12.2 million tonnes of ore over the next five years through higher production from its existing mines, entailing an investment of roughly Rs 7,200 crore being met from internal accruals.

On Demand & Prices

On rising demand, Singh said artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is now globally the fastest growing source of demand for copper.

“Google’s data centre at Vizag alone will need 65,500 tonnes of copper,” he said, adding that the upgrade of power transmission networks by China and India will also boost demand.

“Global copper production has remained at last year’s levels and ore grades are going down as mining continues,” Singh said, adding that the growing demand for the commodity from sectors such as electric vehicles, power transmission upgrades and defence applications will keep prices high.

The Iran-US war has disrupted shipments of sulfuric acid (used for bleaching copper) to Africa and Latin America, stalling operations there. An accident at Indonesia’s Grasberg mine has also delayed production by around six months.

“If the supply side is restricted by war, prices should be high,” he said.

Global copper prices touched highs of $6.68 per pound last week before falling to $6.30 on Monday. Its prices remain about 10% above the year-ago levels.

Singh expects supplies to remain constrained even in the long-term due to the longer gestation period. "If you pick up a block today, you are not going to produce copper before 14 to 15 years,” he said.

For the March quarter, Hindustan Copper reported consolidated net profit of Rs 444 crore, a 134% increase from a year ago.

On Monday, the company’s shares closed 1.87% higher on the BSE at Rs 581.