So far so bad: Vedanta slid 25% this year, and then Thoothukudi hit

A combination of bad news across its operating industries has made Vedanta one of the biggest losers this year among the 10-member S&P BSE India Metal Index

A troubled 2018 so far for billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. may get worse amid concern that its key copper smelter in southern India could remain shut until 2019, further pressuring a stock that’s down 25 percent since the start of the year.

Deadly protests last week over alleged pollution from the Tuticorin smelter have prolonged a shutdown of the 400,000 metric ton-a-year operation. After being hit earlier in the year by an iron ore mining ban and a steel acquisition roadblock, Vedanta, India’s biggest aluminium producer, has also warned it may be forced to reduce the output of the metal.

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