Vedanta Limited

Vedanta Limited is an Indian multinational mining company headquartered in Mumbai, with its main operations in iron ore, gold and aluminium mines in Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Odisha.

Vedanta (then called Sterlite industries) began in the 1980s, as the founder D.P.Agarwal founded Sterlite Industries (India) Limited in Mumbai and begun to buy mining concessions in different states of India. He was soon joined by his two sons, Navin Agarwal and Anil Agarwal, both of whom currently run the company. In 1992, they established Volcan investments in Nassau (Bahamas) as the main holding company for their mines. D.P.Agarwal had a small aluminium conductor business in Patna. His son Anil Agarwal had come to Mumbai to expand their business.

In the 1990s, as the Indian government began to sell off sick (non-performing) companies, Sterlite began to bid for them. They were able to bid successfully for BALCO and Hindustan Zinc Limited, both bankrupt companies that had been closed down for 4 years. Meanwhile, in January 1993, D. P. Agarwal founded Twinstar Holdings Limited in Mauritius, which was mostly owned by Volcan investments. On 26 May 2002, the Enforcement Directorate filed a show cause notice with Sterlite, relating to the six-year period between 1993 and 1999 when Twinstar acquired the shares of Sterlite and various investment companies – such as Dwarka Prasad Anil Kumar Investments Private Limited, Pravin Navin Investment & Trading Private Limited and Sterlite Copper Rolling Mills Private Limited – which, in turn, had made substantial investments in Sterlite and another group company, Madras Aluminium Company Limited (MALCO) after obtaining permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). On 29 April 1999, many of these investment companies were liquidated and all the shares of Sterlite came back to Twinstar's possession. Twinstar became the 100% owner of shares in these investment companies and received government approvals from the RBI as well as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

On 8 December 1999, officials of the Income Tax department raided the offices of Sterlite located at Dhanraj Mahal, Apollo Bunder and Tulsiani Chambers, Mumbai, and seized many documents. The IT department then decided to engage the services of ED officials as it appeared that there could have been a violation of the country's foreign exchange laws. After analyzing these documents, the ED inferred that Twinstar was incorporated with the sole intention of acquiring an interest in Sterlite. The Directorate alleged that the Agarwals, before liquidating the shares of the investment companies mentioned, had written off loans worth 230 million and made an agreement to gift their overseas corporate body, Twinstar, a sum of ₹338 million including shares of Sterlite worth ₹72 million. Between 1993 and 1999, Sterlite and its investment companies allegedly brought in ₹2.08 billion to India through Twinstar to subscribe to the shares of Sterlite and make investments in the company.

The company today known as Sesa Goa was founded in 1954, as Scambi Economici SA Goa. Since then, it gradually grew to become a large low-cost producer of iron ore. During 1991–1995, it diversified into the manufacture of pig iron and metallurgical coke. Scambi Economici Societa Anonyma (SESA), owned by Baron Ludovic Toeplitz, with the financial backing of Alessandro Vassalo, obtained the Orasso Dongor mining lease in Sirsaim, Goa in 1954 and Sesa Goa Limited was formed. It was bought over in 1955, with equal shareholding, by Gewerkeshaft Exploration e Bergbau and Ferromin S.p.A., a subsidiary of Finsider S.p.A. (of IRI group), which eventually acquired the other half stake in 1963.^{[citation needed]}

Sesa Goa Limited was incorporated as a private limited company in 1963 under The Companies Act, 1956. In 1979, Sesa Goa Private Limited was formed, with the merger of Sesa Goa Limited with another mining company in Goa, Mingoa Sociedade Miniera Goesa S.a.r.l. By 1965, Sesa Goa and Mingoa were incorporated as a private limited company under The Companies Act, 1956. The merger happened in 1979 and the new, unified company was called 'Sesa Goa Pvt Ltd'. The company went public in 1981 with 42,000 Indian shareholders, holding 60% of its shares and the remaining 40% held by Finsider International, which later became ILVA International. Sesa Goa had started with iron mining as its core business but slowly, it ventured into barge construction in 1984 at Sirsaim, located in the Bardez taluka of North Goa. Since then, the barge construction unit has been developed into a shipbuilding division.

In the 1990s, Sesa Goa began further expansion, aided by an influx of foreign investment during the economic liberalization of India enforced by the World Bank and IMF. In 1992, the first phase of a 150,000 ton pig iron plant was commissioned. In the same year, Sesa introduced India's first low-phosphorus foundry grade pig iron in India and subsequently formalised the business under pig iron division. The pig iron plant was located at Amona, Goa and had an annual production capacity of 250,000 tonnes per annum. Other alliances were formed in the nineties—in January 1995, Sesa Shipping was launched by acquiring a transhipper M.V. Orissa. The year also saw the inclusion of 84 new coke ovens. When Mitsui & Co. of Japan bought Finsider International in 1996, it gained 51% stake in Sesa Go. By 1997, Sesa Kembla became a 100% subsidiary of Sesa Goa.

In 1997, A Narrain mines located in Chitradurga, Karnataka were purchased. A Supreme Court directive in August 2011 led to suspension of mining activities in the region. In 1999, Sesa Goa started mining operations in Barbil, which has the fifth largest deposit of iron ore and manganese in the world. They started producing iron ore which was exported from the port towns of Haldia and Paradip. During this time, the company also started the Sesa Community Development Foundation that supported the NCM Sesa Technical School and a football academy called SESA F.A. In March 2024, Supreme Court also rejected a plea for reopening the plant in Tamil Nadu.