Vedanta to set up aluminium park in Odisha.

Anil Agarwal group company Vedanta has signed an agreement with the Odisha government to set up an aluminium park adjacent to its aluminium smelter at Jhasarguda.

The company has a 1.6 million tonnes production capacity at the smelter.

The proposed park, to come up on 240 acres, has the potential to attract investment of ₹1,000 crore and generate direct and indirect employment to about 17,000 people.

Abhijit Pati, CEO-Aluminium, Vedanta, told BusinessLine that the company would be able to sell aluminium in molten form to manufactures within the park, rather than supplying it in ingots or sheets, thus saving huge costs for both Vedanta and the manufacturers. It would also make the production of aluminium products cost-efficient.

Units within the park can start production at short notice and Vedanta, with adequate smelting capacity and 3,600 MW of power generation, can assure uninterrupted supply at very competitive prices, he said.

The Odisha government will provide the necessary infrastructure for setting up the industries with financial incentives, he said. Both Vedanta and the Odisha government will hold global road shows to attract investment.

Pati said the company is importing alumina to produce aluminium, as it is yet to get captive bauxite mine allocation.

'We would produce about 0.5 million tonnes of aluminium this fiscal. The cost of production is higher as we have to pay import duty of 7.5 per cent on alumina and with the downturn in metal prices it becomes even more difficult,' he said.

HBL