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National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), the leading public sector aluminium major has paid a dividend of Rs.224.60 crore to the Government for the year 2003-04. The dividend cheque was today presented to the Minister of State for Coal & Mines, Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao by the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NALCO, Shri G. Upadhyaya. The Mines Secretary Shri C.D. Araha and other senior officials of NALCO and the Ministry were present on the occasion. The Minister asked NALCO to complete the second phase expansion within the stipulated period of 50 months without any cost or time overrun. The shareholders of NALCO had approved 40 per cent of net profit as dividend for the year 2003-2004.
NALCO is among the profit making PSUs consistently since its inception in the eighties. During the year 2003-2004 the company posted a record turn over of Rs. 3338.87 crore and a net profit of Rs. 737.37 crore. The company during the year also earned record foreign exchange of Rs. 1717 crore.
Receiving the cheque the Minister said that keeping in view the excellent performance of the company, the Government has ruled out its disinvestment and has recently approved the second phase expansion at a cost of Rs. 4091 crore. This ambitious project will be completed within 50 months with company's own resources. With the completion of the second phase expansion, NALCO will be a global player in aluminium industry and will have the sixth largest aluminium refinery in the world.
The Minister also hinted at exploitation of the bauxite reserves in and around Orissa to meet the growing demand for alumina and aluminium. As Visakhapatanam area is rich with bauxite ore, there is a proposal to exploit these reserves, he said.
With the implementation of first phase expansion project NALCO's mining capacity has increased to 4.8 million tonnes per year (tpy), refinery capacity to 1.575 million tpy, metal production capacity to 3.45 lakh tpy and captive power generation to 960 mega watt. With the second phase expansion the bauxite mining will increase to 6.3 million tpy, alumina refinery capacity to 2.1 million tpy, aluminium smelter capacity to 4.60 lakh tpy and captive power generation to 1200 MW.
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