Despite declining prices and adverse market conditions, aluminium giant NALCO, which posted 4.75 per cent jump in sales turnover at Rs. 6,809 crore in 2012-13, has plans for ambitious new ventures, expansion and diversification programmes, a top company official said on Friday.
Nalco, which is pursuing with Odisha government, plans to obtain Pottangi Bauxite Mines, which has a mineable reserve of about 70 million tonnes, NALCO CMD Ansuman Das said at the 32nd annual meeting of the Navaratna PSU here.
Subject to availability of Pottangi Mines, the company has plans to go for 5th stream refinery based on medium pressure digestion technology at Damanjodi, he said.
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The capacity of the stream will be approximately one million tonne per annum and investment will be approximately Rs. 5,000 crore.
The CMD said NALCO is planning to set up a Rs. 5,500 crore greenfield alumina refinery in Gujarat with one MTPA capacity, for which bauxite shall be supplied by Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation.
Listing the achievements of NALCO, the CMD said: “The company has posted a higher net sales turnover of Rs. 6,809 crore, which is 4.75 per cent over Rs.6,500 crore achieved in the previous fiscal.”
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The rise in sales turnover was mostly attributed to higher production and sale of alumina, he said.
However, the net profit of the company was Rs. 593 crore during the year as compared to Rs.850 crore in the previous fiscal, primarily due to high input costs, Mr. Das said.
NALCO achieved in last fiscal the highest-ever performance in bauxite transportation of 54.19 lakh tonnes, against the previous best of 50.03 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, the CMD said.
At the same time, Nalco’s alumina refinery has produced 18.02 lakh tonnes of alumina hydrate, which is an all-time high, against the previous best of 16.87 lakh tonnes achieved in 2011-12, he said.
The Aluminium smelter plant at Angul achieved cast metal production of 4.03 lakh tonnes against 4.13 lakh tonnes achieved in 2011-12, Mr. Das said.
On sales, the Nalco CMD said the company achieved total chemical sale of 9.85 lakh tonnes in 2012-13 compared to 8.43 lakh tonnes achieved during 2011-12. This includes calcined alumina export of 9.44 lakh tonnes made during 2012-13 compared to 7.92 lakh tonnes export during 2011-12.
The total metal sale during 2012-13 was 4.03 lakh tonnes compared to 4.15 lakh tonnes during 2011-12. Total metal sale consists of domestic sale of 2.59 lakh tonnes and export 1.44 lakh tonnes.
Total metal sales during the year was lower due to production curtailment at smelter plant because of high input costs, he said.
The detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed alumina refinery project in Gujarat was under preparation, Mr. Das said.
Referring to Nalco’s plan to foray into new areas, he said the company has formed a joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, namely ‘NPCIL- Nalco Power Company Ltd.’ (NNPCL) for establishment of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) 3&4 of 700 MW capacity each with an estimated investment cost of Rs.11,500 crore.
The construction work had already started and the project was scheduled to be commissioned by December, 2015, he said, adding that the Centre was taking necessary steps for getting the required approval.
The company was also planning a Rs. 16,450 crore smelter of 0.5 MTPA capacity and power plant of 1260 MW capacity in Sundargarh, Odisha.
The approval of the High Level Clearance Authority of Odisha government had been obtained while site selection study and preliminary land survey for proposed project was underway, Mr. Das said adding the company was actively pursuing for allocation of coal block for the said project, which would be necessary to make the project viable.
He said Nalco was also planning to set up a wind power project in the mined out area of its bauxite mines in Damanjodi, for which detailed feasibility report had been prepared.
Similarly, as a part of backward integration, an MoU had been signed with Gujarat Alkalis and Chemicals Ltd. (GACL) for setting up of a caustic soda plant. Detailed project report (DPR) was being prepared for the same.
Besides, the company has signed an MoU with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) to set up a plant for making aluminium and aluminium alloy electrical conductors near smelter plant, Angul in joint venture, he said.
The Nalco CMD said the total dividend pay-out 2012-13 shall work out to Rs.1.25 per share (25 per cent) as against Rs.1 per share (20 per cent) paid for 2011-12.
Till date, the company has paid a total dividend of Rs. 4,519.17 crore as dividend, including Rs.3,920.73 crore to the central government, he said.
Stating that the government has divested 15.69 crore equity shares of Rs. 5 each at total consideration of Rs. 628.53 crore on March 15, 2013, Mr. Das said with this disinvestment, the shares held by government have come down to 81.06 per cent from 87.15 per cent of total paid-up capital of Rs. 1,288.62 crore.