Companies
27/05/2018

Calls for Delisting of Vedanta Group from LSE getting louder following death of 13 in India




Following the death of 13 people in police firing in Tamil Nadu district of India just outside of mining firm Vedanta’s Indian copper smelter, a call has bene given by John McDonnell to delist the company from the London Stock Exchange.
 
More than 20000 people had gathered outside of the unit of the company in the Southern state of India to protest against the pollution being cased by the copper smelting unit. When the mod got violent, police resorted to firing live ammunition on them in which 13 people died earlier in the week.
 
Action against the company needs to be taken by the regulators because of the "massacre" of protesters this week, demanded John McDonnell.
 
Such opposition to the unit and the company’s operations have been ongoing for months as they claim that a large number of them are being affected by serious illness because of the pollution caused by the firm.
 
The unit has been suggested to be permanently closed down by the state government of Tamil Nadu – the authorities where the plant is located, because of environmental concerns. 
 
However, the company has expressed its intentions to continue with its operations.
 
McDonnell said that the desilting Vedanta from the London Stock Exchange "would prevent further reputational damage to London's financial markets from this rogue corporation".
 
There have been no comments from Vedanta when the media contacted the company for a response on McDonnell's comments about the delisting from the London Stock Exchange.
 
Police had "many questions to answer" and "those responsible should be brought to justice", said Amnesty International this week.
 
It was not planning to set up a smelter elsewhere, P. Ramnath, chief executive of Vedanta's India copper business, had said earlier.
 
"We're confident that we will be able to overcome these issues. It will certainly require a huge effort but I am sure we can hope to restart as quickly as possible," he told the media.
 
The company has further stated that it was cooperating with the local authorities to reconnect power to the unit which had been cut off since late March.
 
The accused smelter plant of the company is in no way responsible for air and water pollution, Vedanta has previously commented.
 
The share price of the company at the London Stock Exchange fell drastically ever since news of the deaths arrived. The company is owned and operated by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal. At the weekend, the price of the stocks fell by 0.5 per cent at 728p which put the total valuation of the company at about £2 billion.
 
(Source:www.bbc.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell
In the same section