Hindalco chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla (left) with director E.B. Desai in Mumbai on Friday. (Fotocorp)

Mumbai, July 28: In a bid to secure a place among the top 10 producers of non-ferrous metals world-wide, Hindalco Industries is undertaking both brownfield and greenfield expansion projects.

It is expanding capacities at Hirakud and Belgaum, even as the company expects to finalise the land acquisition deal for its proposed 1.5-million-tonne greenfield alumina refinery project in Orissa.

The AV Birla group company’s chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla told the annual general meeting today that the company wants to be among the top 10 firms in alumina, aluminium and copper. Hence, it is rapidly undertaking the expansion projects, he added.

For instance, the brownfield expansion of the Muri alumina refinery to 4.50 lakh tonnes from 1.10 lakh tonnes in Jharkhand is at an advanced stage. It is expected to be commissioned by the fourth quarter of this year.

Phase I of the brownfield expansion at Hirakud smelter from 65,000 tonnes to 1 lakh tonnes and raising the power capacity from 167.5 mw to 267.5 mw, is on schedule. Phase II of the expansion of smelting capacity from 1 lakh tonne to 1.46 lakh tonnes and power generation capacity to 367.5 mw is also on time. The project is slated to be commissioned by the end of December 2007.

However, the company is yet to secure the leases for bauxite mining for expanding the alumina refining capacity at Belgaum in Karnataka to 6.50 lakh tonnes from 3.50 lakh tonnes.

The 1.5-million-tonne greenfield alumina refinery project in Orissa is on track. The mining plan for the project has been submitted to the Indian Bureau of Mines, Bhubaneswar, for scrutiny. The phase II of the rehabilitation plan to build residential complexes has started.

Although Hindalco reported a 59 per cent rise in net profit for the first quarter of the current year, it fell short of market expectations. Net profit rose to Rs 601.5 crore from Rs 379.2 crore in the same period last year. Net sales grew 94 per cent at Rs 4,273.7 crore (Rs 2,207.1 crore) on account of better prices.