NALCO- A PROFILE
Though the Indian aluminium
industry is about 60 years old, the metal production in the country
remained low, necessitating large-scale imports. But the scenario
changed since geologists discovered in 1975 bauxite deposits estimated
at 1000 million tonnes along Indian's east coast in the states
of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
India with its
total bauxite deposits of 2900 million tonnes ranks fifth in the
world, next only to Australia, Guinea, Brazil and Jamaica. The
east coast bauxite discovery and strong demand for the metal led
to the evolution of a framework for setting up of an itegrated
bauxite-alumina-aluminium complex in Orissa to achieve self-reliance.
On January
7, 1987 National Aluninium Company Limited was incorporated following
technical collaboration agreement with Aluninium Pechiney of France.
Since then through a series of expansion and value-addition NALCO,
at present has a bauxite mining capacity of 48 lakh tonnes, alumina
capacity of 15.75 lakh tonnes and a smelter capacity of 3.45 lakh
tonnes. It has also set up a captive power plant of 960 MW. It
is the first aluninium company to achieve ISO-9002 certification
for all the four production units viz mines, alumina, smelter
and power plant.
With the emergence
of NALCO on the industrial scene, there has been a quantum jump
in production. It has spearheaded the production of alumina and
aluminium in the country. Greater availability has led to increased
use and varied application of the metal.
NALCO is the
first public sector in the country to venture into international
market in a big way. The project itself has been designed to sell
almost half of its alumina production in the international market.
Company's metal has received London Metal Exchange rating of high
purity. Its alumina enjoys priority in the world market on account
of excellent quality and international
standard, bulk shipment facilities developed by the company at
Visakhapatnam.
Because of the
consistent export performance, the Government of India has accorded
"Super Trading House" status to NALCO, the first company
in the public sector to earn this distinction. Since 50 per cent
of its turnover comes from export earnings, it will continue to
be a major player in the international market.
On the metal
front, production of aluminium alloys, billets and strips have
been introduced for value added export of metal. Since the company
is an established brand name aboard, scope is being explored to
add new products.
NALCO is already
a global player in alumina with a share of about 8 per cent. It
has now plans to further expand the mines capacity from 4.8 million
tones to 6.3 million tones and aluminium capacity from 15.75 lakh
tones to 21 lakh tones.
