NALCO to expand to new "immune" sectors to counter downturn

　　Faced with a muted global metal market and a weak bottomline, aluminium major NALCO today announced plans to diversify into areas like green power, caustic soda and merchant mining, which are "immune" to downturns.aluminium major NALCO today announced plans to diversify into areas like green power, caustic soda and merchant mining, which are "immune" to downturns.

　　Given the "tough going" in the market, NALCO is framing a New Business Model (NBM) and a new corporate plan to withstand market onslaughts and keep the company afloat with profitability, Chairman and Managing Director Tapan Kumar Chand said.

　　The model envisages diversification into green power, IPP, caustic soda, rare metal like titanium, recovery of iron from red mud waste and merchant mining that are immune to downturns in the metal market, he said.

　　"This NBM will not only give a new dimension to the company's growth plans but also redefine business sustainability," Chand said at the company's annual general meeting here.

　　With sluggishness in the metal market across the globe, fluctuating prices and increase in input costs of raw materials, the company registered a net profit of Rs 669 crore in fiscal 2016-17, compared with Rs 787 crore achieved during the previous year, the CMD said.

　　The state-owned company posted a 4.4 per cent year-on-year decline in net profit to Rs 129 crore in the June quarter.

　　On NALCO's performance during 2016-17, Chand said bauxite mines achieved the highest-ever production with bauxite transportation of 68.25 lakh MT with 100 per cent capacity utilisation, and surpassed the previous best of 63.40 lakh MT.

　　The Alumina Refinery also hit highest-ever production with alumina hydrate output of 21.00 lakh MT (100 per cent of normative capacity), topping the previous best of 19.53 lakh MT achieved, he said.

　　Referring to projects under implementation, the CMD said NALCO is in the process of setting up its fifth stream in its existing alumina refinery with a capacity of 1 million tonne per annum, at a capital expenditure of Rs 5,540 crore.

　　NALCO also declared a 56 per cent total dividend, including Dividend Distribution Tax, amounting to Rs 651.40 crore for 2016-17, as against a dividend of 562.22 crore in the last fiscal.