The public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has earned a net profit after tax of Rs 159.45 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Gross sales turnover stood at Rs 774.08 crore during the quarter. The company's export earning was Rs 315.82 crore, sources said.
The earning was lower than the target due to the strike at Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) which resulted in the increase in the domestic demand.
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Nalco, which is slated for disinvestment in the current fiscal, achieved a gross profit of Rs 242.74 crore and a net profit before tax of Rs 211.45 crore, for the period under review.
The aluminium major is currently implementing a Rs 2,062 crore expansion project to enhance the smelting capacity from the current level of 2,30,000 tonne per annum (tpa) to 3,45,000 tpa.
The captive power plant capacity is being increased from 720 mw to 840 mw, the sources said.
"With the expansion scheduled to be completed by May next year, Nalco's share in the country's primary aluminium production capacity would go up from 32.2 per cent to about 42 per cent," the sources said.
After the expansion, Nalco, the first Indian company to be registered with the London Metal Exchange, would emerge as the largest alumina producer in Asia with an exportable surplus of about 1 million tpa.