Chairman and founder of Adani group Gautam Adani is pushing ahead with plans to build India’s largest copper refinery as the world’s second most populous nation seeks to reduce its reliance on metal imports.
The conglomerate which also has interests in airports, edible oils, ports, renewable energy and toll roads—said in a regulatory filing on Sunday that its unit Kutch Copper has raised 60.7 billion rupees ($775 million) in loans from a syndicate of banks led by the State Bank of India, reports Forbes .
Proceeds will be used to accelerate the construction of a greenfield copper refining plant in Gujarat, Adani’s home state in western India.
“Kutch Copper aims to create the capacity for production of refined copper, which plays a vital role in strengthening the nation’s shift towards electric vehicles and renewables,” Vinay Prakash, director of Adani Enterprises said in a statement.
“The project has requisite technology tied up and construction works at the site are progressing well and is scheduled to commence production during the first half of 2024.”
When completed, the plant can process one million tonnes of copper per year and help reduce the country’s imports. That will make Kutch Copper India’s largest copper refinery, overtaking billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco Industries, currently the country’s top producer of the metal.
