Vedanta to raise Rs 10,000-cr debt for Orissa project

Vedanta Aluminium, a subsidiary of metal and mining giant Vedanta Resources, is believed to be in talks with banks, including SBI, to raise Rs 10,000 crore debt for part-funding its project in Orissa.

The company is in dialogue with a syndicate of banks, led by the country's largest lender, SBI, to arrange the debt, which would be used for expanding its aluminium production capacity in Orissa, a source close to the development said.

Even as Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has approached the banks for debt, its parent company Vedanta Resources would not stand as guarantor for the loan, he added.

When asked if VAL is in the process of raising Rs 10,000- crore debt and has roped in SBI as the lead manager, Sterlite Industries Director Finance Tarun Jain refused to comment.

Sterlite Industries, the flagship company of the London Stock Exchange-listed Vedanta Resources, owns 30 per cent stake in VAL. Vedanta Resources investment arm Twin Star Holding has a 45 per cent stake in the aluminium firm while the rest is with Welter Trading.

As part of its expansion, VAL will augment the capacity of its alumina refinery to five million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the present 1.4 MTPA while that of aluminium smelter to 1.75 MTPA, from close to 0.7 MTPA.

NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Resources plans to pump in Rs 70,000 crore in India by 2011-12 for its aluminium, zinc, iron ore and copper projects. Of the proposed investment, the company has already invested about 50 per cent.

"We intend to invest Rs 50,000 crore in (the) aluminium sector and Rs 20,000 crore in other areas like copper, iron ore and zinc by 2011-12 in India," Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal had said earlier this year.

Though hit hard by the slump in demand amid the global economic downturn, the group is undertaking massive capacity expansion in India.

The mining giant saw demand and prices of its products nosediving by more than 50 per cent from the highs of 2008. Aluminium prices have almost halved to $1,300 a tonne level from the peak achieved in July last year.

Vedanta Resources today reported a 75 per cent decline in its profit to $219.4 million for the year-ended March 31, 2009.

The group had recorded a profit of $879 million in the same period a year ago.