The Hindu : Business : Aluminium production set for quantum jump

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Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
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Aluminium production set for quantum jump

Special Correspondent

Major producers draw up Rs. 100,000 crore expansion plan in the next five years

New mining policy will help the industry
Automobile, rural electrification will spur growth

— PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF

SUSTAINING GROWTH: Union Minister of State for Mines, T. Subbarami Reddy (right), with the President, Aluminium Association of India and Managing Director of Hindalco Industries, D. Bhattacharya, arriving to inaugurate a conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Mines, T. Subbarami Reddy, has said that the expansion plans announced by various aluminium companies would result in an increase in aluminium production from the present 1.5 million tonnes to four million tonnes.

Aluminium majors such as Hindalco, Nalco, Vedanta and others had drawn up plans to invest about Rs. 100,000 crore in the next five years which should increase annual production levels to four million tonnes, Mr. Reddy said while inaugurating the International Conference on Aluminium organised by the Aluminium Association of India (AAI) here on Wednesday.

Mr. Reddy said the new mining policy, to be introduced by the Centre, would be of immense help to the aluminium industry as it envisaged immediate clearance of applications for issue of mining leases. The prospective lessees could approach the appropriate tribunal if the applications were not cleared within 14 months. Since the present policy did not prescribe any time limit, the applications for mining leases were pending with the State Government for years.

D. Bhattacharya, President of AAI, and Managing Director of Hindalco Industries, said the Indian aluminium companies were the best in the world in terms of performance. But the question was whether they could sustain it. India was also among the four top power producing countries.

The AAI President said consumption of aluminium would go up in the coming years as many new sectors that needed the metal were emerging. The car industry and the rural electrification programme would spur growth.

Pramod Suri, CEO and whole-time Director of Balco (now Vedanta), said his group was all set to become an aluminium giant in the current scenario. He expected the industry to cross five million tonnes annually in the next five years.

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