Hindustan Zinc pays Rs 200 cr advance tax in Q1

Hindustan Zinc today said it has paid Rs 200 crore as the first advance tax instalment for the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, double than the amount it had paid in the same period last year.

The Vedanta Group company, in a statement, attributed the increased tax outgo to "improved efficiency in operations and expansion in business".

The company further said that it produced 9,64,000 tonne of zinc-lead in 2011 and plans to commission 1 lakh tonne lead smelter capacity this year.

Besides this, the Anil Agarwal-promoted company is also aiming to produce 500 tonne of silver by March 2012,following the expansion of its Sindesar Khurd mine - a silver rich mine in Rajasthan, the statement said.

Simultaneously, Hindustan Zinc is also aiming to generate 275 Mw of wind power by September this year as part of its green energy initiative, the statement further said, adding that the wind farms are being commissioned in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka.