Hindalco surges 7% in 2 days on pact with Italian firm to make rail coaches

Shares of Hindalco Industries, the world's largest aluminium rolling and recycling company, hit a 52-week high of Rs 508.80 as they rallied 5 per cent on the BSE in Thursday's intraday trade on the back of more than two-fold jump in trading volumes.

In the past two trading days, the stock of the Aditya Birla Group company has surged 7 per cent after the company, on Tuesday, announced a partnership with Italy-based Metra SpA in large-size aluminium extrusion and fabrication technology to build high-speed aluminium rail coaches in India.

The stock price of Hindalco surpassed its previous high of Rs 504, touched on January 18, 2023. At 11:19 AM, it was quoting 4 per cent higher at Rs 503.45, as compared to 0.05 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 9.6 million equity shares have, thus far, changed hands on the NSE and BSE.

"The collaboration marks a pivotal move to bring world class technology – currently limited to Europe, China, Japan, and a few other countries – to India. The tie-up provides Hindalco the launching pad to drive the ambitious upgradation programme of Indian Railways that runs the world’s largest rail network," Hindalco said in a statement.

Indian Railways is in the midst of a dynamic makeover in basic infrastructure such as rail lines and stations as well as the introduction of high-speed air-conditioned carriages. The quintessentially world class Vande Bharat trains being rolled out to critical acclaim for top-end comfort, and faster travel are an indicator to the future of rail transport in India.

To help make passenger coaches for the Vande Bharat trains, Hindalco plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore for the project and the technology alliance will provide the cutting-edge technology for this effort. The company plans to introduce three more designs of freight wagons in the coming months targeting specific commodities such as cement and foodgrains.

Meanwhile, Novelis, as subsidiary of Hindalco, expects global demand for aluminum beverage can sheet to grow at a 3 per cent compounded annual growth rate from 2022 to 2031. The demand growth is driven by consumer preference for more sustainable products and size variety, as well as more beverage types being packaged in cans, including water, energy drinks, soda, beer, wine, hard seltzers and ready-to-drink cocktails.