Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Kumar Birla eyes global scale in copper, aluminium

Rumi Dutta in Mumbai

The A V Birla group, which has decided to merge its aluminium and copper businesses, is now drawing up a major blueprint to expand capacities in both, through brownfield and greenfield opportunities.

Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has commissioned a feasibility study on the extent of expansion and the costs involved. The expansions would be at the integrated aluminium complex at Renukoot (Uttar Pradesh) and the copper complex at Dahej in Gujarat.

Debu Bhattacharya, managing director, Indo Gulf, told Business Standard, "We are keen on increasing the copper as well as aluminium smelter capacities to an extent that can easily be supported by the existing infrastructure facility at the current locations."

"It is our endeavour to attain global size and have an edge over our competitors. We will continue to expand, irrespective of whether we manage to get Nalco or not," Bhattacharya added. He, however, declined to comment on the exact capacity expansion planned.

Group sources said there was "adequate provision for substantial expansion at both the aluminium and copper units".

Hindalco is currently in the midst of a Rs 18-billion brownfield expansion which entails increasing its aluminium smelter capacity to 340,000 tonnes per annum from the previous capacity of 240,000 tonnes. However, it has not yet decided to add downstream facilities to utilise the metal, despite the focus on higher value products.

Indo Gulf too recently announced plans to augment its copper smelter capacity to 250,000 tonnes from around 150,000 tonnes, at an investment of Rs 2.5 billion.

Hindalco is the country's largest aluminium producer and accounts for 44 per cent of India's primary aluminium production. Indo Gulf, on the other hand, is India's largest copper maker.

The two are eyeing two public sector majors: Nalco and Hindustan Copper.

Powered by

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines