India’s Vedanta Bets on Aluminum

Indian Vedanta Group will increase its capital expenditure in the 2025/2026 financial year (April/March) to $1.5-1.7 billion compared to $1.5 billion a year earlier, said the group’s CFO Ajay Goel.
According to him, about $700 million of this amount will be spent on developing the aluminum division and power generation, and $400-450 million is planned to be invested in zinc production. According to Ajay Goel, aluminum consumption in India is growing at 12% per year.

In the aluminum sector, the group’s largest project is the expansion of the Bharat Aluminum Company Limited (BALCO) production complex, in which the state owns 49% of the shares.

In November 2024, Vedanta announced a Rs 170 billion (a little over $2 billion) project to expand its primary aluminum production capacity from the current 575,000 to 1.015 million tons per year and install new lines for the production of aluminum semi-finished products and rods.

Vedanta also intends to modernize the Jharsuguda aluminum smelter in Odisha, which will eliminate bottlenecks there and increase productivity. Bauxite mining at the Sijimali mine in Odisha is also scheduled to begin this summer. Its production capacity will be 9 million tons per year.

By the end of 2025, the company expects to increase its alumina production capacity to 4 million tons per year, and aluminum to 3 million tons.

Source: IIS “Metal Supply and Sales”