Novelis ready for next scale of expansion: Hindalco MD Satish Pai

Satish Pai, managing director, tells BS about organically-funded expansion at Novelis

With input costs staying high and bullish London Metal Exchange (LME) rates, Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco sees profitability staying flat in the coming quarters. Satish Pai, managing director, tells Aditi Divekar and Dev Chatterjee about organically-funded expansion at Novelis and the company’s focus on growing business to improve stock prices rather than announcing dividends. Edited excerpts:

Hindalco’s input costs moved up significantly in the September quarter, partially offsetting benefits of higher realisation. What is the outlook on input costs for the second half of the fiscal year?

We do not see input costs coming down. In fact, we have