VAL is positioned to make a significant contribution to global aluminium demand, which is expected to increase substantially over the next few years. The rapid growth of the emerging nations led by China and India and the concomitant growth in aluminium demand in these countries is expected to benefit VAL. Aluminium consumption in BRIC nations alone is expected to increase at a CAGR of 9% over the period 2007-2020 while global aluminium consumption is anticipated to more than double from 38 mt to 78.5 mt over the same period. India’s demand for aluminium is expected to touch 2.5 mt by 2015. On the other hand, global aluminium supply is driven by China where total capacity is expected to reach 34.8 mtpa by 2010. However, global alumina supply would witness periods of surplus and shortages with the days of consumption remaining between 45-60 days.

India is positioned to become one of the world’s largest producers of aluminium, with the 6th largest reserves of bauxite globally of 2.3 billion tonnes and the 4th largest reserves of coal worldwide of over 250 billion tonnes. The domestic market is currently growing at a robust pace, which augurs well for VAL. The firm would benefit from the continued market expansion, which would help it tap a wide range of new business segments. Increasing investments in the Indian power sector coupled with rising consumerism have driven growth in industries such as packaging and consumer durables. VAL, with its superior product portfolio, is competitively positioned to take a lead in catering to these industries. Proximity to high growth markets of Asia and Middle East, and the co-location of abundant bauxite and coal are added advantages for the firm.

VAL is located in the heart Orissa, which has abundant mineral reserves including bauxite and coal. The state has as much as 1.7 billion tonnes of the country’s total 3.3 billion tonnes of bauxite reserves. The optimal location of VAL affords an easy reach to recoverable bauxite deposits of over 900 mt within 60 km radius of Lanjigarh, the location of its greenfield alumina refinery. The bauxite variety here boasts of low reactive silica content, adaptability to low temperature and low pressure digestion, which entail low cost and high quality alumina production. VAL is further aided by availability of ample reserves of coal (62 billion tonnes) and low cost of power generation.

With a highly qualified and technologically advanced research and development wing, VAL has acquired comprehensive expertise at producing high quality products. Supported by state of art facilities, competitive intelligence and resource utilisation, VAL takes pride in an unparalleled track record of project delivery and implementation. The firm benefits from teams with proven project handling expertise which hugely reduces risk of execution. This ensures strict adherence to international time and cost benchmarks, which raises VAL above competitors. The experienced in-house project management teams have implemented the 1.0 mtpa Lanjigarh alumina refinery and the associated 75 MW captive power plant. They are currently in the process of completing the first phase of the 0.5 mtpa greenfield aluminium smelter project and 1215 MW captive power plant at Jharsuguda.

VAL is making huge investments to expand capacities of existing plants in order to address growing industry demand. Expansion of the Jharsuguda aluminium smelter plays a pivotal role in VAL’s growth strategy. The firm is having plans to start construction of a new 1.1 mtpa aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda which would expand smelting capacity from 0.5 mtpa to 1.6 mtpa in near future. For this, VAL has channelised funds towards the commissioning of additional units of power.

The proposed increase in alumina production at Lanjigarh will boost output from 1.0 mtpa to 5 mtpa shortly. The increase in alumina production capacity will be achieved by debottlenecking existing capacity and building three new production streams of 1 MTPA each.

Responding to the global demand pattern for aluminium, VAL has recently diversified its product portfolio to cater to a wide range of industrial sectors. VAL specialised in manufacturing aluminium ingots until 2008-09. The firm has now extended its production proficiency in the field of billets and wire rods though ingots remain the chief product offering.