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Sterlite plans expansion at Balco

BS Bureau

Sterlite Industries Ltd is planning an expansion at its recently acquired aluminium company Balco which will see its capacity increasing by 50 per cent from the present 100,000 tonne per annum to 150,000 TPA, said Navin Agarwal, director, Sterlite.

He said, "We are evaluating proposals for capacity expansion including removing the existing bottlenecks. The investment will be around Rs 8-10 billion, which will be largely met by internal accruals with some debt component." Sterlite holds 51 per cent stake in Balco.

Navin said that Balco had achieved 90 per cent efficiency in its operations with 385 out of the total 408 parts working to their full capacity.

On the impact of the recent Securities and Exchange Board of India ruling and the government's show-cause notice to the company on the group's expansion plans, Navin said, "We have written back to the government saying that the internal accruals of the group alone is sufficient to meet the investment requirements. Also, we have decided to embark on a major international expansion coupled with increasing our domestic market share. Hence, we are hopeful of achieving healthy growth in aluminium, copper and fibre optics."

Apart from Balco, Sterlite owns a fully integrated aluminium complex -- The Madras Aluminium Company Ltd -- in Madras. In telecom business, Sterlite Optical Technologies, a manufacturer of fibre optics, represents the group's interest.

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