Anil Agarwal on Fraud & Collapse

Vedanta's environmental and human-rights record drew sustained criticism. An Indian Supreme Court committee in 2004 cited thousands of tons of arsenic-bearing slag dumped near a Tamil Nadu factory; another in 2005 alleged forced displacement of indigenous families in Odisha for bauxite, with the Church of England selling its shares in protest. In Zambia, Vedanta was sued by 2,000 residents over Kafue River pollution from its copper mine.

In May 2018, protests against Sterlite's Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) copper smelter on environmental grounds culminated in police opening fire, killing 13 people. The Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission later found no specific evidence directly linking Sterlite to instigating the violence, but the episode damaged Vedanta's social license and led to the smelter's closure.