Nalco becomes debt free company

National Aluminium Company (Nalco) today became a zero debt company following repayment of the third and final instalment of 14.5% non-convertible redeemable secured debentures amounting to Rs. 214.39 crore.

Nalco, which had loans amounting to Rs 654.39 crore at the commencement of 2004-05, repayed the entire loan amount with prudent financial management and increased production and realization, a Nalco release said.

Nalco had brought down its paid up capital from Rs. 1288.62 crore to Rs 641.31 crore and issued 14.5% debentures amounting to Rs 641.31 crore. The company repaid its instalments in 2003, 2004 and 2005, it said.

Nalco had earlier achieved the feat of zero-debt status in September 1998 when the company successfully cleared the last foreign currency loan of 20 billion Japanese yen plus interest, which in Indian currency worked out to Rs 627.64 crore (principal) and Rs 11.86 crore (interest).

The company had borrowed a total of $980 million from a consortium of international banks to finance its initial project costs.

Meanwhile, the company had started work on the second phase expansion at an investment of Rs 4091 crore, and hoped to meet the fund requirement through internal resources and partly through external borrowings, the release said.