Hindalco Industries, the aluminium company that is part of the Aditya Birla Group, has recalibrated its growth capital expenditure to $4.5 billion to be spent in the next five years from $8 billion announced a year ago. This likely marks the first such decision by a major Indian firm in foreign capex.
Addressing an investors’ conference on Tuesday, Hindalco’s management said margin headwinds at Novelis, its US subsidiary, were transient and growth projects had been deferred but not cancelled. “We see the cut in growth capex as a sign of low confidence on operating cash flows,” a Kotak Institutional Securities report said.
