Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 1, 2015 :

The Indian government owned metal major National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has finally rolled out a significant capacity expansion plan to set up a one million ton alumina refinery at Damanjodi, in southern district of Koraput in Odisha at an estimated investment of Rs 5,540 crore.

This is the first major expansion in line with the Modi government’s Make in India campaign.

The Board,  which met in New Delhi last Saturday, approved the much awaited expansion programme of the blue-chip company.

Nalco will source bauxite from its captive bauxite deposit at Pottangi in this project.

For fiscal FY15, Nalco’s net profit went up more than double to Rs 1,322 crore in FY15 against Rs 642 crore in same period of FY14. During the year, the company achieved its highest ever gross turnover of Rs 7,771 crore, a 10.6% rise against Rs 7,024 crore achieved in 2013-14, the Company said.

The Board also recommended final dividend at a rate of 10% (Re. 0.50 per equity share of Rs 5 each) worth Rs 128.86 crore. Earlier, Nalco had declared an interim dividend of 25%, (Rs 1.25 per share of Rs 5 each), amounting to Rs 322.16 crore for the financial year 2014-15, on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 1288.62 crore.

Interestingly, Earlier the aluminium major reported a more than two fold rise in net profit to Rs 354.87 crore in Q4 FY15, due to an exceptional gain. Against this the company had posted a net profit of Rs 172.45 crore in the previous corresponding period. Total income, however, declined by 2% to Rs 1,801.25 crore in January-March quarter of 2014-15 from Rs 1,838.20 crore in the same period of 2013-14.

In a bid to boost the ancillary and downstream industries, Nalco will supply 50,000 ton of aluminium metal to ‘Angul Aluminium Park’ – a joint venture between Nalco and Odisha government owned Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha.

The company also has forayed into the renewable energy sector. It is setting up 100 MW wind power plant at a suitable location with an estimated investment of Rs 660 crore, which is in an advanced stage, the company release on Monday said.

Nalco’s captive power plant achieved net power generation of 5,131 million units against 4,989 million units achieved in last fiscal. It also generated 175 MU of wind energy during the year by operating a 50.4 MW wind power plant at Gandikota, Andhra Pradesh and another 47.6 MW plant at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

The company’s export turnover for the fiscal 2014-15 was Rs 3,307 crore.