The Hindu Business Line : Vedanta keen to buy out Govt stake in Balco

Hyderabad, Nov. 21 Vedanta Resources is poised to make over Rs 13,000 crore investments in expanding its aluminium capacities in the country and is keen to buy out the Government stake in Bharat Aluminium Co Ltd located in Korba.

The Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta, Mr Pramod Suri, said “the loss making Balco is now a great turnaround story, after we took over its operations. Its overall capacity has been added significantly and last year it recorded profit of Rs 900 crore.”

“We have expressed to the Government our intention to buy out the Government stake (49 per cent) and the matter has been subjected to a three-member committee. The process is under evaluation and SBI Caps and independent consultants are evaluating the company. We expect to complete the buyout soon,” Mr Suri said.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Suri said that as a Group, Vedanta, the holding company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has targeted creation of capacity of one million tonnes each of zinc, lead and aluminium in India. The aluminium sector alone will have investments of about Rs 13,000 crore.”

Power Focus

Alongside, the company is also planning to play a larger role in the country’s power sector. It has targeted a total capacity of about 10,000 MW of power generation, mainly thermal. “However, we may also consider nuclear power generation, though nothing as yet has been finalised,” he said.

The company is also “awaiting the outcome” of the Krishnapatnam ultra mega power project for while Sterlite is one of the bidders.The power plant at Korba is being further expanded to create 1200 mw of power generation capacity which will be completed in the next 19 months, and another plant with 2,400 mw is being put up at Jhashua and the company is evaluating more power plants in Orissa, he explained.

Referring to aluminium capacity expansion, Mr Suri said with additional capacities at Korba mines and Jhashua the first phase of expansion would help achieve overall capacity of about 1.5 million tonnes in the country.

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