Aluminium major,Hindalco,plans to raise around Rs 3,000-crore (USD 600-million) through equity or equity-like instruments to part finance its alumina project,a top company official said here. "We have a capex plan of Rs 23,000-crore over the next three years,of which we have an equity commitment of Rs 7,000-crore. We have already raised Rs 2,000-crore and looking at raising around Rs 3,000-crore through equity or equity-like instruments liks QIP or GDR or other instruments. The balance will be raised through internal accruals,Hindalcos Chief Financial Officer,S Talukdar,told reporters on Saturday. "We are close to completing the financial closure of the Utkal Alumina project aggregating Rs 5,500-crore. It would be concluded in November 2009," Talukdar said. Utkal Alumina project,involving the construction of 1.5-mtpa alumina refinery at Rayagada,Orissa,is in full swing. Around 75 per cent of the project cost has already been committed and production of alumina is expected to start around July 2011,he said. It is also setting up the Mahan aluminium project,an aluminium smelter of capacity 3,59,000 tpa and a captive 900 MW power plant in Bargwan,Madhya Pradesh. Commenting on the future outlook,Hindalco Managing Director,D Bhattacharya,said,"the upward trends in the commodity prices and also demand in the key markets in which the company operates are encouraging. However,higher input costs,especially the cost of coal,is a concern." With aggressive cost-containment,enhanced asset productivity,higher share of value-added products and strong fundamentals,the outlook of the company remains cautiously positive in both the short-and-long-term. Global aluminium demand contracted in the first six-months of the financial year by 11 per cent. Worldwide production continues to exceed consumption,although in the last few months consumption has been rising faster than production,Bhattacharya said. At the end of September,LME stocks have moved down from a high of 4.62-million tonnes marginally to 4.59-million tonnes. China and India are the two growth countries for aluminium with India growing as much as 14.7 per cent in the first-half of the year. Considering that the first-half of the last year was only seeing the beginning of the recessionary period,"this is indeed encouraging," Bhattacharya said.
