Hindalco and Vedanta: Tale of two aluminum producers and their strategies

Hindalco Industries, the country’s largest aluminium producer, says it is preparing to use the majority of its domestic output for the downstream segment over the next five years.

However, the Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta, its peer company, has no such plan.

Hindalco  says it wishes to insulate itself from price fluctuations on the London Metal Exchange (LME). So, the Aditya Birla Group company aims to use 75 per cent of its domestic aluminium production for the downstream segment. At present, of Hindalco’s aluminium production of 1.3 million tonnes in India, only 300,000 tonnes is for this segment. “At a standalone level, LME aluminium