Smelters melt copper concentrate into anodes, and refineries electrolyse them into 99.99% cathode for wires, cables, motors and battery foil. Zinc, lead and nickel follow similar routes.
Hindalco IndustriesOperator · MediumListed
Hindustan CopperOwner · HighListed
VedantaOperator · LowListed
Adani EnterprisesOperator · LowListed
Vedanta (VEDL)
After its 1 May 2026 demerger the parent keeps base metals - zinc and silver through Hindustan Zinc, plus copper (Silvassa refinery) - and bids actively for critical-mineral blocks
Price
₹262.00
snapshot 6 Nov 2026
Strengths
Won the Genjana nickel, chromium and PGE block (Dec 2025) and other blocks in earlier tranches - one of the most active private winners
Controls Hindustan Zinc, the other big group winner in the auctions
Risks
Its Thoothukudi copper smelter has stayed shut since 2018 (closure upheld by the Supreme Court in Feb 2024), so copper is a small refining business today
Group debt and the demerger's moving parts make the critical-minerals piece hard to value
Key stats — company snapshot as of 6 Nov 2026
Mkt Cap
₹1.02L Cr
Stock P/E
7.8x
Div Yield
13.00%
ROCE
16.1%
ROE
38.2%
P/B
8.0x
Revenue growth
+25.1%FY26
Profit growth
+22.2%FY26
Net margin
32.0%FY26
1Y vs Nifty
+45 ptsNifty −1.9%
Revenue, ₹ Cr (5-yr) — company table
1,32,732FY22
1,47,308FY23
1,43,727FY24
62,717FY25
78,437FY26
Stock price return · as of 6 Nov 2026
1Y price return
+43%
3Y CAGR
+45%
5Y CAGR
+18%
Trend86th percentile
52-week range as of 6 Nov 2026 vs snapshot price · 27% below its high
Note: Base metals parent after the May 2026 demerger; critical-mineral block winner
Market cap, ratios, CAGR and revenue: company table snapshot as of 6 Nov 2026 (the same figures on every page). Price: snapshot as of 6 Nov 2026. Not investment advice.
Where it fits
Custom smelters (Hindalco at Dahej, Adani's Kutch Copper at Mundra) buy imported concentrate and earn treatment and refining charges plus by-products like sulphuric acid, gold and silver. Hindustan Copper is the only Indian miner of copper ore; Vedanta runs a refinery at Silvassa after its Thoothukudi smelter was shut in 2018.
Why it matters
Copper is on India's critical-minerals list and every electrification theme - EVs, grid, data centres, solar - pulls on it. Prices hit a record in Sep 2026 (LME three-month US$14,533/t). India mines little of its own copper, so the Mission's overseas push (KABIL, Coal India's Chile plans) and Hindustan Copper's ore expansion target this gap.
Where the value pool sits
The miner earns the copper price; custom smelters earn processing fees that have been squeezed by a global shortage of concentrate. India is adding capacity fast - Hindalco is adding 300,000 tonnes a year at Dahej (FY29) and Kutch Copper aims for 1 million tonnes a year by FY29 - so concentrate supply is the binding constraint.
Key drivers
Copper prices and electrification demand (grid, EVs, data centres)
Smelter expansions at Dahej and Mundra
Hindustan Copper's ore capacity going from about 4.2 to 12.2 million tonnes a year by FY30
Overseas copper and lithium assets under the Mission
Potential bottlenecks
Concentrate: India imports most of the ore its smelters process
Low treatment and refining charges during the global concentrate squeeze
Environmental approvals (the Thoothukudi closure still shapes how smelters are permitted)
Investor metrics to watch
Copper cathode output (tonnes) and capacity use
Treatment and refining charges (US$/t)
Hindustan Copper ore output (million tonnes) and metal-in-concentrate