India’s largest aluminium maker Vedanta is expanding its portfolio of value-added products and is planning to set up an aluminium flat rolled products plant with an estimated capital expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore, a senior Vedanta official said.
Flat rolled products, or FRPs, comprise foils, sheets and plates and are used in the automobile, aerospace, consumer durables sectors, among others. This capex will be part of the Rs 15,000 crore investment plan by Vedanta to take its aluminium capacity from the current 2 million to 3 million tonnes in the next 3-4 years.
We are looking at producing rolled products and entering the sheets market. For this, we are currently talking to Chinese players to see if we can bring a plant here,” Ajay Kapur, CEO at Vedanta Aluminium and Power, told ETin an interaction. “This project needs some capex. It also gives you high margins and therefore we are investing in R&D to move ahead in that direction,” said Kapur.
The company will be housing the plant in either of its two aluminium facilities in Chhattisgarh or Odisha, Kapur said. Vedanta’s rival — Aditya Birla Group’s flagship Hindalco — also produces FRPs through various facilities in India as well as through its wholly-owned US subsidiary Novelis, that is world’s largest aluminium rolling company.