In an exclusive interview Debu Bhattacharya, MD, Hindalco discloses why and how the metal giant changed its strategies

B&E: Considering the high growth opportunities, Hindalco shifted focus from India to overseas markets and now aims to achieve global leadership. How are you planning to fulfil these objectives?
Debu Bhattacharya (DB): True, we are now aiming to achieve a sustainable global metal leadership. To fulfil it we have aligned our strategies to deliver three objectives — cost leadership, price leadership and capability leadership. While our thrust is on coal and bauxite for the first target, we are trying to be present across metals and geographies with strong growth potential for the same. And with Novelis on our board, our third target has got a great boost as Novelis is a strong name in high-end technology.

B&E: But realigning one's strategies with a new focus is certainly not an easy task...
DB: These changes were decided internally and we are working on them simultaneously. As for copper business, the financial performance suffered on account of planned shutdown of 3 weeks in one of the smelters. Then we needed to offset these impacts by improving operational efficiencies. Another example is our Jharkhand Smelter. There is a total land requirement of 4,000 acres for the project. Land has been identified. Application for acquisition of private land has been submitted and acquisition of government land to proceed after private land acquisition. As for environmental clearance, application is yet to be submitted after start of land acquisition. Similarly, 94% of basic engineering and 60% of detailed engineering is complete at our Mahan Aluminium Greenfield Project. Major statutory approvals are in place. There we have over 10,000 people working at the site. Then at Aditya refinery, Alumina refinery commissioning will take place by Q1 FY14. So we are moving along nicely with our plans to achieve what we want.

B&E: What are your plans on the global front?
DB: At Novelis, for example, we are planning to increase production by around 20% by 2014. Novelis will increase its capacity through brownfield expansions of plants in emerging markets, such as Brazil. In fact, Novelis will invest about $300 million in one of its Brazilian factories to meet the growing demand for its products in South America.

B&E: Do you think that the measures taken by you have started showing encouraging results?
DB: Certainly. Despite production loss at Hirakud, Hindalco has witnessed strong results, mostly due to better product­mix and optimised performance of other plants. Moreover, while our Utkal Alumina project is gearing up for Q2 FY12 commissioning, the Jharkhand smelter will start production by Q1 FY14. With these we feel that our aluminium smelting capacity will reach 1,638 kt by FY 2015 from 535 kt at present.