Published Online:September 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Case Folio
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJCF020925
DOI:10.71329/CaseFolio/2025.25.3.17-34
Author Name:S Vijaya Lakshmi, Nagendra Kumar M V and Indu Perepu
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Management
Download Format:PDF
Pages:17-34
UK-based Vedanta Plc’s Sterlite Copper’s plant in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, was shut down after opposition from local residents, NGOs and environmental activists. The plant accounted for 36% of copper production in the country and the closure resulted in supply shortages. But activists complained of pollution the plant has caused in Thoothukudi and surrounding areas impacting the health of people. At the same time it provided employment to more than 3500 people directly and many more indirectly. The case helps readers understand the responsibility of a business toward its stakeholders and the roles and expectations of various stakeholders affected by business issues. It also examines the responsibilities of organizations toward environmental issues and the tensions caused by an interplay of commercial and ethical issues.
P Ramnath (Ramnath), CEO of India-based Sterlite Copper (Sterlite) 1, was standing in front of Sterlite’s 400,000 per annum copper smelter and associated facilities2 at Thoothukudi (also called Tuticorin) in the state of Tamil Nadu, braving the hot Indian summer. What bothered him more than the scorching heat was the fact that he was not able to enter the facilities he had managed until a few days earlier, as they had been shut down by an order of the court in May 2018. The order had followed an instruction issued by the Environment and Forest Department of the state for their permanent closure.