AV Birla group to invest Rs 20,000 cr in Orissa

The Aditya Birla group intends to invest about Rs 20,000 crore in two separate alumina/aluminium projects in Orissa.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, who was here on a visit to the state, held discussions with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on the proposed ventures.

One of the above projects will come under the banner of Aditya Aluminium and will be a fully integrated facility to produce one million tonne of alumina and 2.6 lakh tonne of aluminium.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 15,000 crore.

While the alumina refinery will be located at Kansariguda in Koraput district, close to the bauxite mines, the aluminium smelter and a 630 mw captive power plant will be located near Sambalpur, close to the coal pit head. Sources said efforts are on to acquire land for the project.

The other project will be set up under the banner of Utkal Alumina International Ltd, a joint venture between AV Biral group owned Indian Aluminium Company (Indal) and Alcan of Canada, at Kashipur in Rayagada district.

The project, a 100 per cent export oriented one, envisages an initial capacity of one million tonne of alumina at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore. It will, however, have the flexibility to grow up to three million capacity at a later stage.

Though the venture was conceived in mid-90s and the land to locate it was acquired few years back, the company is unable to start work on it owing to prolonged resistance by the local people. The company, with active support from the state, is confident of overcoming the problem and start work on it soon.

Kumar Mangalam told the chief minister that the project when completed will employ about 5,000 people directly with potential to create employment for many more indirectly.

The AV Birla group, meanwhile, has already spent Rs 110 crore towards land acquisition and other costs for both the projects.

In addition, the AV Birla group promoted Hindalco Industries has chalked out a massive Rs 3,500 crore expansion plan at its subsidiary Indal's Hirakud plant in Orissa.

The company is planning to expand the aluminium capacity of Hirakud unit to 1.5 lakh tonne per annum from the existing 65,000 tonne per annum by the end of next year.

The Hindalco board has already cleared the proposal. Hindalco holds a 96.37 per cent stake in Indal.

The expansion will be implemented in two stages-the first stage will be for one lakh tonne followed by 50,000 tonne in the second phase.