Vedanta limited CEO Abhijit Pati has urged the Union and State Governments to take urgent measures to protect investment prospects in aluminium sector in the country in view of major dependence on aluminium import for operations.“We are probably touching the lowest point in our aluminium operations, and going by the current plight we will be forced to take drastic measures,” said Pati.
He said dependence on alumina import for operations with no local source of bauxite, increase in cost of production due to steep rise in energy and raw material cost, record fall in lME price from 2200 $/MT to 1620 $/MT in the last one year and aluminium premium fall from $425 per tonne to less than $100 per tonne have made operational viability impossible.
He said he has urged the Government at a recent meeting held at Delhi to increase import duty of aluminium metal to 10 per cent from the existing five per cent.
He made this appeal keeping in mind that with the surge of more than 1.5 mtpa import of aluminium to the country, the share of domestic producers in the
Indian market has dropped drastically to 45 per cent in 2014-15 from 60 per cent in 2010-2011.
“In the last 10 years, approximately Rs 1.2 lakh crore has been invested in aluminium by private sector companies like Vedanta and Hindalco with a target of taking primary aluminium production from 2.1 mtpa to 4.1 mtpa by the year 2019. Today more than 7.5 lakh livelihoods are directly or indirectly linked to our business and unless strong will and support is exhibited by the State as well as the Central Government to address our concerns, the prospects of this promising investment is dismal and will gravely affect the development of the local regions where investments are made,” said Pati.