Hindalco Industries Ltd, India''s premier private sector aluminium company, and a part of the A V Birla group, will   focus  on  controlling  costs,  and  concentrate  on   the downstream segment. Meanwhile, sales and profitability are rising.

Hindalco aims to control costs through various means. First, it will exploit its access to high quality and low cost bauxite reserves and the capacity to generate power captively. It has created joint ventures for the uninterrupted supply of caustic soda and aluminium fluoride, two other raw materials used in the production of aluminium, apart from bauxite.

In the next few years, Hindalco will increase the contribution of downstream products in its overall turnover. This is expected to improve margins since the company will achieve greater value addition in its production process. The company has commissioned an aluminium foil plant in Silvassa and expects to begin production of aluminium alloy wheels in the first quarter of 2000.

Hindalco claims to have achieved a 44 per cent share of the Indian primary aluminium market in the year ended 31 March 1999. Sales volumes rose 16.5 per cent during the year.

During the first quarter of 1999-2000, the company made a net profit of Rs.138 crore, which is 10 per cent higher than that made in the year-earlier period. Sales aggregated Rs.478 crore, rising 14 per cent, while exports almost doubled to Rs.65 crore.

In July, the company decided not to go ahead with its Rs.10,000 crore Aditya Aluminium greenfield project.

The company hopes to achieve good performance in 1999-2000. It expects that the Asian economies will emerge from their recession and help revive the demand for aluminium. Aluminium prices have been rising on the London Metal Exchange in the current year.

Hindalco owns bauxite mines, an alumina refinery, generates its  own power  and   does  its  own  smelting  and  downstream activities. The   company  is  already  one  of  the  lowest  cost aluminium  manufacturers in the world.

Its integrated aluminium complex has ISO 14001 certification.

also see : Financial results: Hindalco Industries