Vedanta rises 3% on NGT panel remarks

NEW DELHI: Shares of Vedanta rose 3 per cent in early trade on Thursday as a three-member committee, set up by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to decide on reopening the Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper factory in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district, termed the state government order that led to its closure as “unsustainable.”

The panel said that there were insufficient grounds to permanently close Vedanta’s copper smelter and a Tamil Nadu government decision to shut it amounted to administrative overreach.

In a further setback for the Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday had dismissed a state government plea seeking a review of the NGT order setting up the Tarun Agrawal Committee.


Vedanta said the plant had been operating in line with local laws. “We as a company have always been environmentally conscious in every aspect of our operations and have followed all regulations laid down by the law,” said P. Ramnath, chief of Vedanta’s India copper business.

The scrip was trading 3.21 per cent up at Rs 199.15 at around 09.54 am, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was up 0.85 per cent at 36,022.07.

Meanwhile, the shares of Vedanta opened at Rs 196 on BSE against its previous closing of Rs 192.95.