Nalco Explores JV with Coal India, NTPC

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is exploring a joint venture partnership with state-owned Coal India and power major NTPC for securing coal supply for its proposed Rs 12,000-crore power plant in Odisha, its CMD Brijendra Pratap Singh said on Thursday.

Singh told reporters here that the Navaratna company will set up a 1,080 MW power plant in Angul, Odisha for its smelter unit.

"This power plant will be set up in Angul, Odisha, where our smelter unit will be there ...for the power plant, we have appointed a consultant who will make DPR and in parallel, we are going to negotiate for a JV agreement with may be two-three parties," he said.

Both the power plant and the smelter unit are part of its long-term expansion plans, Singh said.

Nalco has lined up an investment of Rs 30,000 crore to set up a new aluminium smelter and a coal-based power plant over the next five years. Out of this, Rs 18,000 crore has been earmarked for the smelter and Rs 12,000 crore will be spent on the thermal power plant, he explained.

Commenting on the impact of the tariffs imposed by the US, the NALCO CMD said that the availability of alumina in the Indian market has increased after the imposition of the tariffs, leading to some price pressures in the domestic market.

The company, he said, is also exploring some UK markets for the export of the metal.

Nalco also plans to be a Maharatna firm in another five years, he said, adding that at present our turnover is around Rs 17,000 crore and for a Maharatna, the turnover has to be Rs 25,000 crore.

"We will be having a refinery which will increase our turnover by around Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore...and once we add the smelter then we will get additional revenue of around Rs 10,000 to Rs 11,000 crore. Adding smelter, our target is by 2030 we will be a maharatna company," he explained.