Hindalco to set up world-class aluminium smelter in MP

Mumbai, May 23 (UNI) Hindalco Industries has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government for a greenfield aluminium smelter in the Siddhi district of the State.

Hindalco's Managing Director D Bhattacharya said, ''This MoU marks yet another milestone in our goal of making Hindalco a non-ferrous metal powerhouse. In aluminium, our Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla's vision is to be among the top 10 global players.

This new greenfield aluminium, project is a forward move in this regard.'' The aluminium smelter in Siddhi at an investment of Rs 7,700 crore is expected to create 4,000-5,000 new jobs and generate another 12,000 jobs indirectly.

On the new initiative, company's advisor R K Kasliwal said the greenfield project entails putting up of a 325,000 tonnes aluminium smelter, a 750 MW captive power plant and a jointly-owned captive coal mine. The company will source the alumina required for this smelter from their Orissa greenfield project - Utkal Alumina, in a joint venture with Alcan, Canada. The new 3.25 lakh smelter in MP will need around 6.40 lakh tonnes of alumina, and Utkal Alumina is slated to produce 1.5 million tonnes of it.

The finances for this project have already been tied up through internal accruals and debt. The project is expected to go on stream in a four-year time frame, after all necessary approvals and infrastructure support are well in place.

On the Aditya Birla group's links with MP, Mr Bhattacharya said, ''Our tryst with the State dates back to 1948, with the positioning of Grasim in Nagda, off Ujjain, beginning with our viscose staple fibre (VSF) plant. Subsequently, in 1972, we put up our rayon grade caustic soda unit also in MP.'' Till now, the Aditya Birla group's investment in MP at its VSF and cement plant are in excess of Rs 6,000 crore.

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