Vedanta, Nalco look to contain costs after strong FY18 earnings

Vedanta's production cost rose 30% in FY18 due to input commodity inflation; Nalco leans heavily on Utkal-D coal block to pare output cost by 25%

Top aluminium producers like Vedanta Ltd and central public sector firm National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) have set their sights on trimming costs after posting robust earnings from aluminium business in FY18.

Vedanta, in 2017-18, reported an Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of $570 from the aluminium vertical, a three-fold surge over $188 million in 2016-17. Last fiscal, Nalco witnessed its net profit doubling to Rs 13.42 billion. While Vedanta emerged the highest aluminium producer in the country with an output of 1.7 million tonnes, Nalco achieved its normative rated capacities of bauxite and alumina and also posted