Declares 30% final dividend
National Aluminium Company ltd (Nalco) Chairman and Managing Director Ansuman Das at a Press conference here on Saturday exuded optimism about the business prospects of the company in the coming years.
Earlier in the day, he had announced the decision of the Nalco Board for a final dividend of 30 per cent while presenting the relevant reports in the company’s Annual General Meeting. The company had declared a 25-per cent dividend in the last fiscal and 20 per cent in the previous year.
Das attributed his optimism to the improvement in global business scenario in general and the major economies in particular. “For the past five years, the aluminum market has been described as “structurally oversupplied”, but production cuts are likely to push the market into deficit this year, provided all the planned cuts are implemented. The “critical shift” has been on the supply side ex-China,” Das observed.
He also pointed to the improving global demand-supply scenario and the fast-improving domestic economic scenario as the World Bank has forecast growth in India’s GDP to stand at 6.7 per cent in 2015-16 from the sub-5-per cent performance in the last fiscal. The domestic consumption actually dipped by about 6 per cent in 2013-14 due largely to low off-take from the electrical sector in the country.
Das said that in such a gloomy economic scenario, the Nalco has been able to improve its net profit and turnover due to management interventions that included a complete stoppage of power purchase from the grid, improved efficiency in consumption of fuel oil, reduced use of imported coal and higher volume of alumina production and sale.
Das informed that the Nalco has achieved a record production at its mines and refinery and was able to operate the smelter and power complex at the desired level. The mining operation at the Panchpattmali bauxite mine has received extension after the tenure had expired in November 2012 and was operating under a temporary working permission. It has now also received the stage-II clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment & Forest and Climate Change. The company has also been quite vigorous in its pursuit of renewable energy by setting up wind power and solar power units. He said the company has also been able to spend the mandatory amount for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) range of activities primarily in the areas of education, health, sanitation, drinking water, communication and livelihood support. The company has already consented to be an active partner in the Swachh Bharat Mission. To start with, around 100 schools have been identified for providing sanitation facilities to boys and girls.
Das also informed that the Nalco has set in motion growth initiatives which include an alumina refinery project in Gujarat, a second smelter and another CPP in Odisha at Sundargarh, a caustic soda project in Gujarat, an aluminium and aluminium alloy conductor plant at Angul and an overseas smelter at a suitable location for which the hunt is on.