India’s Vedanta plans to raise aluminum capacity

Bloomberg

India’s biggest aluminum producer Vedanta Ltd. is prioritising controlling costs as it embarks on expanding capacity, according to CEO.
Vedanta plans to double alumina capacity at its refinery in the eastern state of Odisha to 4 million tons over the next 2.5 years and raise aluminum smelter production capability by 30% to 3 million tons “at an all-in cost of less than $1,500 a ton,” Vedanta CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said.
“Every business has to earn its right to spend the capital before we spend the capital ,” he said. “Hence, we said let’s first drive the cost down before we actually go ahead with the expansion.”
“Any expansion plans, we will do it with the strictest capital discipline and balance sheet focus,” according to Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, who was the CEO of Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. for five years before taking the helm at Vedanta in 2018. “We will control the purse strings quite tightly.”