Meanwhile, Indal board has okayed the expansion of its smelting capacity at its Hirakud complex in Orissa from 30,000 ton a year to 57,200 ton a year by transferring electrolytic pots from its defunct Karnataka unit. The smelting capacity of the subsidiary to Hindalco will hence stand doubled by September-end, when it completes the shifting of equipment. According to the company, the implementation is on schedule. The company's Belgaum complex in Karnataka, which was shut down in 1995 owing to high power cost, has around 400 smelting pots. Indal has started dismantling 200 electrolytic pots lying idle at its Belgaum smelter and the investment envisaged for moving the first lot of pots is around Rs 1.7 billion (Rs 170 crore).
NSTL
