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Sterlite Industries (India) Limited - Sterlite Industries India Ltd.

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Once processed at the Tuticorin facility, copper anodes are either refined at Tuticorin or transported by road to Silvassa. Copper cathodes,<br />

copper rods, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and other by-products are shipped for export or transported by road to customers in <strong>India</strong>.<br />

Sales and Marketing<br />

The ten largest customers of our copper business accounted for approximately 33.9%, 16.8% and 32.5% of our copper business net sales in<br />

fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. No customer accounted for greater than 10% of our copper net sales in any of the last three fiscal<br />

years.<br />

Our copper sales and marketing head office is located in Mumbai, and we have field sales and marketing offices in most major metropolitan<br />

centers in <strong>India</strong>. We sell our copper rods and cathodes in both the domestic and export markets. In fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009, exports<br />

accounted for approximately 63%, 56% and 39% of the net sales of our copper business, respectively. Our export sales were primarily to<br />

China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and various countries in the Middle East. We also sell phosphoric<br />

acid and other by-products in both the domestic and export markets.<br />

Domestic sales are normally conducted on the basis of a fixed price for a given month that we determine from time to time on the basis of<br />

average LME price for the month, as well as domestic supply and demand conditions. The price for copper we sell in <strong>India</strong> is normally higher<br />

than the price we charge in the export markets due to the tariff structure on costs, smaller order sizes that domestic customers place and the<br />

packaging, storing and truck loading expenses that we incur when supplying domestic customers.<br />

Our export sales of copper are made on the basis of both long-term sales agreements and spot sales. The sales prices of our copper exports<br />

include the LME price plus a producer’s premium. We do not enter into fixed price long-term copper sales agreements with our customers.<br />

Market Share and Competition<br />

We are one of the two custom copper smelters in <strong>India</strong> and had a 45.7% primary market share by production volume in <strong>India</strong> in fiscal 2009,<br />

according to ICPCI. The other custom copper smelter in <strong>India</strong> is Hindalco, which had a primary market share by volume in <strong>India</strong> of 48.0% in<br />

fiscal 2009. The remainder of the primary copper market in <strong>India</strong> was served by Hindustan Copper (5.8%) and SWIL <strong>Limited</strong> (0.6%) in fiscal<br />

2009.<br />

Copper is a commodity product and we compete primarily on the basis of price and service, with price being the most important<br />

consideration when supplies of copper are abundant. Our metal products also compete with other materials, including aluminum and plastics,<br />

that can be used in similar applications by end-users. Copper is sold directly to consumers or on terminal markets such as the LME. Prices are<br />

established based on the LME price, though as a regional producer we are able to charge a premium to the LME price which reflects the cost of<br />

obtaining the metal from an alternative source.<br />

Our Zinc Business<br />

Overview<br />

Our zinc business is owned and operated by HZL. HZL’s fully-integrated zinc operations include four lead-zinc mines, three<br />

hydrometallurgical zinc smelters, one lead smelter, one lead-zinc smelter, three sulphuric acid plants and one silver refinery in the State of<br />

Rajasthan in Northwest <strong>India</strong>, one hydrometallurgical zinc smelter and one sulphuric acid plant in the State of Andhra Pradesh in Southeast<br />

<strong>India</strong> and one zinc ingot melting and casting plant at Haridwar in the State of Uttrakhand in North <strong>India</strong>. HZL’s mines supply all of its<br />

concentrate requirements and allow HZL to also export surplus zinc and lead concentrates.<br />

We first acquired an interest in HZL in April 2002 and since then have significantly improved its operating performance through expansion<br />

and by improving operational efficiencies and reducing unit costs. HZL intends to improve its operating performance further by:<br />

• benefiting from low-cost production available from its two hydrometallurgical zinc smelters with capacity of 210,000 tpa each at<br />

Chanderiya commissioned in May 2005 and December 2007, and expanded in April 2008 together with associated captive power<br />

plants at Chanderiya;<br />

• increasing the total zinc smelting production capacity;<br />

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