Nalco seeks financial partners to fund Iran project

State-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is scouting for financial partners to part fund its Rs 7,800-crore proposed aluminium project in Iran.

The leading aluminium producer has proposed to set up a 3.10 lakh-tonne smelter and 750 Mw power plant for which the company has also received finance proposals from Indian and foreign banks.

"We have floated a global expression of interest seeking financial partners to part fund our Iran project. Till now, we have received communication from few PSU banks and some MNCs," Nalco Director (Finance) B L Bagra told PTI.

The navratna firm is keen on starting the Iran project, which is on hold due to the problems in tieing up the funds.

For the Rs 6,000-crore phase-I of the Iran project, Nalco is looking to raise about Rs 5,000 crore and the rest would be funded through the company's internal accruals. The company has a cash surplus of Rs 4,000 crore, Bagra said.

"Gas is available in the country to run the captive power plant. We have enough bauxite at home to export to Iran. Funding is the only problem for the project," Bagra had said last month.

Earlier, Islamic Bank in Indonesia has evinced interest in the project. "We are still awaiting proposal from an Islamic Bank in Indonesia, which had evinced interest to partly finance the project," Bagra said.