Vedanta Aluminium Inaugurates Subhalaxmi Cooperative Office & Product Gallery, Championing Women’s Empowerment
14th October 2025
Jharsuguda, Odisha, October 14, 2025: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, has marked a new milestone in its journey of empowering rural women entrepreneurs with the inauguration of a dedicated office and product gallery operated by the Subhalaxmi Cooperative in Jharsuguda. The center is envisioned as a vibrant hub for collaboration, training, and enterprise development, while also serving as a showcase for the extensive range of products manufactured by self-help groups (SHG) supported across Vedanta Aluminium’s operations.
Established in 2008, the Subhalaxmi Cooperative has grown to become one of the largest SHG cooperatives in Odisha today, currently engaging more than 5000 women across 470 SHGs in 102 villages. The cooperative promotes sustainable livelihoods, leadership development, and economic self-reliance by equipping women with market-relevant skills, credit access, and business training, enabling them to become changemakers within their communities.
Over the years, the organization has consistently championed women’s empowerment by focusing on capacity-building and financial inclusion in rural areas. It has been successful in enabling women to become confident contributors to the development of their families and extended communities. The SHG members are actively involved in diverse livelihood generation initiatives, including specialized products such as:
- Vedamrit – organic honey cultivation
- VedMurtika – terracotta figurines
- VedSuta – handloom products
- Kalakriti – jute products
- Traditional snack production from the region
The inauguration event witnessed enthusiastic participation from the SHG members, staff, NGO partners, and Vedanta employees, all celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship and collective progress.
Speaking at the event, C Chandru, CEO, Vedanta Jharsuguda, emphasized the company’s core values, stating, “At Vedanta, empowerment is a shared goal that defines our developmental efforts. The Subhalaxmi Cooperative exemplifies how we are enabling community members to take ownership of their future and integrate entrepreneurship as a means of building sustainable livelihoods. Through our collaboration and dedicated resources like this new center, we aim to enhance both community well-being and long-term development.”
Adding her views, Pankajini Oram, President, Subhalaxmi Cooperative added “This new center represents more than just an office. It is a dedicated space for us to learn together, improve our skills, and ensure our traditional products can find a wider market, helping us support our families with dignity. Such milestones are the result of the hard work put in by every woman in our cooperative, and the support of Vedanta.”
The SHG product gallery will showcase products made by women entrepreneurs not just in Jharsuguda, but also from other Vedanta Aluminium locations. These include homemade spices and Saura art from Lanjigarh, Odisha, traditional snacks and handicrafts from Chhattisgarh, and many more. By bringing these products into the spotlight, the gallery sets a powerful precedent in community-led development – deepening awareness, expanding outreach, and strengthening the pathway to economic independence for rural women.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.42 million tonnes in FY25. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 2nd in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2024 world rankings for the aluminium industry, a reflection of its leading sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
About Vedanta Limited:
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa and Namibia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing significantly to nation building. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment. Vedanta has put in place a comprehensive framework to be the ESG leader in the natural resources sector. Vedanta is committed to reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or sooner and has pledged $5 billion over the next 10 years to accelerate the transition to net zero operations. Giving back is in the DNA of Vedanta, which is focused on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company’s flagship social impact program, Nand Ghars, have been set up as model anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare, and empowering women with skill development. Under the aegis of the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the umbrella entity for Vedanta’s social initiatives, the Vedanta group has pledged Rs 5000 crore over the next five years on social impact programmes with a thrust on nutrition, women & child development, healthcare, animal welfare, and grass-root level sports. Vedanta and the group companies have been featured in Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and was conferred Frost & Sullivan Sustainability Awards 2020, Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governance 2022 and certified as a Great Place to Work 2022. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.
For more information, please visit www.vedantalimited.com
About Vedanta Aluminium Business:
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.37 million tonnes in FY24. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 1st in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2023 world rankings for the aluminium industry, a reflection of its leading sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
For more information, please log on to www.vedantaaluminium.com
Follow us on LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Disclaimer:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” – that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “should” or “will.” Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.
