Mumbai: India’s biggest aluminum producer Vedanta Ltd. is prioritizing controlling costs as it embarks on expanding capacity, according to the chief executive officer.
“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.”
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,” Venkatakrishnan said in an interview.
