Aluminium industry must slash costs, raise output: Mines secy

The Indian aluminium industry must slash production costs and raise output to tackle the global downturn, Union Mines Secretary Anil Mukim said on Thursday.

"While the demand is on the rise, the continuous downturn in international aluminium market and increasing cost of production are matters of concern," Mukim said at the opening of the International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL) 2019 here.

Stressing that the focus should be on reduction of cost, Mukim said since power constitutes 40 per cent of the production cost, cutting down on energy consumption is the key to make the aluminium sector competitive.

State-of-the-art technology in smelting and improved operational practices in pot management are some of the other areas that need the attention of aluminium producers, he said.

Noting that India produces around 3.4 million tonne of aluminium and consumes about 3.6 million tonne, he said the demand in the country is likely to get doubled in five years.

Referring to refining of bauxite to produce alumina, the mines secretary said, "We need to increase the capacity of production of alumina in the country to meet the growing demand."
Ajay Dixit, CEO, Aluminium and Power, Vedanta Ltd, said India can evolve as the nation of choice for the global aluminium industry. "While aluminium sector contributes 1.9 per cent to our manufacturing GDP currently, it can contribute almost 10 per cent to the GDP in the next 3-5 years."