National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is expecting a 25 per cent growth in its net profit for 2010-11.
“Our net profit is expected to grow by 25 per cent in the current financial year. The company also hopes to pay Rs 300 crore more by way of Income Tax and excise duties in 2010-11 compared to the last fiscal”, Nalco chairman and managing director A K Srivastava said at the 10th Foundation Day Lecture of the company.
It may be noted that Nalco had recorded a 36 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 814.22 crore for 2009-10 as against Rs Rs 1272.27 crore in 2008-09.
The company's shrink in net profit was attributed to decrease in sales realization owing to lower aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and higher fuel costs despite increase in production volume.
Similarly, the Navratna company's turnover saw a marginal drop from Rs 5531.06 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 5310.47 crore in 2009-10.
Srivastava said, Nalco had lined up an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in various brownfield and greenfiled projects both within the country and abroad and had set a turnover target of Rs 25000 crore by 2020.
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Nalco’s aluminium production has reached 0.46 million tonnes per annum while its CPP (Captive Power Plant) generation stood at 1200 MW, he informed.The aluminum major, which is in a diversification mode, had identified Jharsuguda and Kamakhyanagar as the possible locations for setting up of independent power plants (IPPs).
The company aims to set up IPPs through joint ventures with PSUs of the Orissa government like Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) which have been allocated coal blocks.
The company has targeted at least one IPP with a generation capacity of 1000 MW by 2016.
Meanwhile, Nalco has successfully completed two major brownfield expansion plans at an investment of Rs 7800 crore.
This has raised the company's bauxite mine capacity to 6.3 million tonnes, alumina capacity to 2.1 million tonnes, aluminium capacity to 0.46 million tonnes and power generation capacity from its Captive Power Plant (CPP) at Angul to 1200 MW.The company is now ready with its Phase-III expansion plan entailing an investment of Rs 6000 crore.
This will further expand Nalco's alumina capacity to 2.9 million tonnes, aluminium capacity to 0.57 million tonnes and power generation from CPP to 1700 MW.
In parallel, Nalco which had lined up an investment of Rs 16000 crore for setting up a 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) smelter plant and a 1260 MW CPP at Brajrajnagar near Jharsuguda is now scouting for alternative locations in Sundergarh and Bolangir districts. The location will be finalized depending on the availability of land and water.