Make in India: Vedanta to help Odisha build aluminium park, attract Rs 1000 crore investment

MUMBAI: Natural resources conglomerate Vedanta Ltd. will help Odisha government set up an aluminium park next to its smelter in the state, creating a readymade market for its produce.

The industries that will sign up for the proposed aluminium park are expected to use Vedanta’s liquid aluminium to manufacture aluminium conductors, extrusions, castings, foils and so on.

This aluminium park, spread across 240 acres of land, is expected to attract an investment of about Rs 1000 crore and generate 17,000 jobs.

Its creation is in line with Odisha government’s vision to not just allow companies to mine its natural resources but also aid value addition in the state. The state is not in the favour of extracting resources from the state but converting it into usable products in other parts of the country or world.

“We get an assured market and full value addition will happen within the state, starting from bauxite, refining, smelting and downstream production. Odisha is also strategically located with a long coastline so export of this material will be easy,” Abhijit Pati, chief executive of Vedanta's aluminium business, told ET at ' Make in India' week organised by CII.

In the coming days Odisha government and Vedanta will organize roadshows and other propmotional events across the county, to inform potential investors of the benefits of setting up facilities at the aluminium park.

Vedanta’s aluminium smelter is stepping up metal production after it received permission to use a oart if power from its 2,400 megawatt independent power plant (IPP) at Jharsuguda without paying cross subsidy - this subsidy is payable when power is bought from an IPP in Odisha.

Pati said the smelter of 1.6 million tonne should reach full capacity in 12-18 months from only one-third utilization right now.

However, Vedanta’s bauxite refinery in Lanjigarh remains shut. Global commodity meltdown and unavailability of cheap bauxite has made buying alumina from open market more viable than producing it. Earlier Vedanta used to covert bauxite into alumina, which was then converted to aluminium at Jharsuguda.