Sterlite Industries India Ltd is India's largest non-ferrous metals and mining company and is one of the fastest growing private sector companies. The company is the principal subsidiary of Vedanta Resources plc, a diversified and integrated FTSE 100 metals and mining company, with principal operations located in India and Australia. The company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in India and the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. The company was the first Indian Metals & Mining Company to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company has world class copper smelting and refinery operations in India. Their main operating subsidiaries are Hindustan Zinc Ltd for their zinc and lead operations; Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty Ltd for their copper mine in Australia; and Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd for their aluminium operations. The other subsidiaries include Sesa Goa Ltd, The Madras Aluminium Company Ltd, Konkola Copper Mines Plc, Sesa Industries Ltd and Dempo Mining Corporation Pvt Ltd

Sterlite Industries India Ltd was incorporated on September 8, 1975 with the name Rainbow Investment Ld. In the year 1976, the company undertook the manufacture of cables, conductors and enameled copper wires at their factories in Mumbai and Pune. Also, the name of the company was changed from Rainbow Investments Ltd to Sterlite Cables Ltd with effect from October 19, 1976

In February 28, 1986, the name of the company was again changed from Sterlite Cables Ltd to Sterlite Industries India Ltd. In the year 1989, Vision Finance & Leasing Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. During the year 1989-90, the company commissioned the continuous cost and rolled non-ferrous rods unit at Taxwe Khurd near Lonawala with the technical assistance from Continuus, SpA, Italy and La Farga Lacambra Sa, Spain.

In the year 1990, the company diversified into manufacture of Jelly-filled telecommunication cables (JFTC) with an installed capacity of 6.25 lakh CKM. In the year 1992, they set up an additional plant for manufacture of Jelly filled cables with an installed capacity of 15 lakh CKM. Also, they set up a new plant at Aurangabad with an annual capacity of 40,000 FKM for manufacturing fibre optic cables.

In the year 1993, the company commissioned a new plant at Silvassa for manufacturing Jelly filled cables with an installed capacity of 20 lakh CKM. In the year 1995, they commissioned a refinery in Silvassa. In April 1996, Sterlite Communications Ltd merged with the company.

In the year 1997, the company commissioned the first privately developed copper smelter in India at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. In the year 1998, they set a plant as a downstream facility that would make use of the sulphuric acid produced by the company's copper smelter plant. In the year 1999, the company acquired Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty Ltd. Also, they acquired Thalanga Copper Mines Pty Ltd.

In the year 2000, the company joined hands with telecom multinational Alcatel for providing telecom networking solutions in India. In July 2001, pursuant to the scheme of arrangement, the telecommunication business of the company was de-merged into a separate company known as Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd. Also, the company acquired BALCO during the year.

In the year 2002, the company acquired Hindustan Zinc Ltd. In the year 2003, the company made a tie up with Essar and Videocon for buying the government stake in SCI. In the year 2004, the company made a deal with Escondida mine. In the year 2005, the company expanded the Tuticorin Smelter to 300,000 TPA. Also, they bagged National Award for Excellence in Energy Management from the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

In the year 2006, the company completed major expansions of 120,000 tpa of copper smelting, 120,000 tpa of copper refinery and 90,000 tpa of the copper rod plant. Also, they expanded the Tuticorin smelter to 400 KTPA through innovative de-bottle necking. Also, the Chinchpada unit was upgraded from ISO 14001:1996 to ISO 14001:2004 standards.

During the year 2006-07, the Power Transmission Line (PTL) division of the company with their manufacturing facilities at Rakholi (Silvassa, union territory) and Karanjwane (Pune, Maharashtra) was on a going concern basis to Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd at a lump sum consideration of Rs 1485.10 million with effect from July 01, 2006. During the year, Sterlite Energy Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary company.

During the year 2007-08, Fujairah Gold FZE, UAE became a subsidiary of the company. During the year 2008-09, the company incorporated Sterlite (USA) Inc as their wholly owned subsidiary company. Also, Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd became 100% subsidiary company with effect from September 01, 2008 through their subsidiary Sterlite Energy Ltd. During the year 2009-10, the company commissioned the 210 ktpa zinc smelter at Dariba and 1 mtpa concentrator at Rampura Agucha.

During the year 2010-11, the company through one of their wholly owned subsidiaries completed the acquisition of Zinc assets of Anglo American Plc (Anglo Zinc). This acquisition consisted of the 100% owned Skorpion mine in Namibia, the 100% owned Lisheen mine in Ireland and the 74% owned Black Mountain Mines, which includes the Black Mountain mine and the Gamsberg project in South Africa.

In December 2011, THL Zinc Holding BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company acquired the entire ordinary share capital of Lakomasko BV for a consideration of $37.7 million from Vedanta Resources Holding Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc). Consequently, Lakomasko BV became subsidiary of Sterlite Industries (India) Limited. Further THL Zinc Holding Cooperatief U.A ceased to be a subsidiary of the company due to its liquidation.

The company approved the merger of Sterlite Opportunities and Ventures Ltd (SOVL) with the company. SOVL is a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

In February 2012, the company approved the restructuring proposal, in which Sterlite will merge into Sesa Goa to create Sesa Sterlite, through the issue of Sesa Goa shares to shareholders of Sterlite via a scheme of arrangement under Indian law.

The construction of the Captive Power Plant at Tuticorin is in progress and the first unit is now scheduled for commissioning in during the financial year 2011-12. While the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) clearance is in place for the 4 LTPA, the Copper Smelter Expansion Project at Tuticorin is being rescheduled, awaiting the consent from the State Pollution Control Board.