The closure of Sterlite Copper's Tuticorin plant may have cost India around $2.5 billion (Rs 250 crore) due to rise in import of refined copper, as per an Institute for Competitiveness report on the 'Economic and Social Impact of Vedanta'.

The estimate is based on the production FY17-18 figures of Sterlite which stood at 403-kilo tonne, in comparison to global copper prices which hover around $6,200-6,300 per tonne.

The Vedanta-owned company's unit in Tamil Nadu was shut in May 2018 on government order after 13 people were killed in police firing while protesting against alleged pollution caused by the plant.

The report pegged Vedanta's overall induced impact (not including the Tuticorin plant) at 2.2 percent of the GDP (approx. Rs 3.74 lakh crore).

This took into account the impact on economic output, employment generation and tax contribution from Vendanta's Hindustan Zinc, Cairn India, Bharat Aluminium Company, Vedanta Alumunium Company and Talwandi Sabo Power.

When asked the estimated induced impact inclusive of the Sterlite Plant, the makers of the report pegged the figure at 2.85 percent of the GDP. The report estimates that had the Sterlite Copper Plant been allowed to run, it would have generated 200,000 man-years of employment in a year.

In April 2019, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition filed by the Vedanta Group seeking access to the closed plant.