Net sales rose by 18 per cent from Rs 478 crore to Rs 565 crore, while exports shot up by over 36 per cent from Rs 65 crore to Rs 88 crore during the period. Hindalco Industries chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla told shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) that the company has surpassed its past performance, creating a path-breaking record in achieving productivity, sales and profitability.

"Crossing the Rs 2000-crore mark in sales has been a major milestone, positioning the company even more strongly on the top of the league," Birla said. Hindalco Industries, he said, will continue to focus on exports and its strategy to shift to value added semi-fabricated products will improve realisations in the overseas markets. During 1999-2000, the company's metal output stood at 248,930 mt against 240,926 mt in the previous year. "Our company is firmly entrenched as India's largest aluminium producer," Birla told shareholders.

He said that innovative and sound technical practices in smelting, alumina refining and fabrication led to improved efficiency, better productivity and has been integral in maximising capacity utilisation. "We believe that the acquisition of Indal offers enormous growth potential. The Hindalco-Indal combination has been our proactive response to further fuel growth of our aluminium business," he added.

"There is an excellent synergistic fit between Indal and Hindalco which complement each other and enjoy leadership positions in their respective areas of operation," he said. Indal's strength in alumina and downstream aluminum products ideally dovetails Hindalco's unmatchable position in metal and other areas of operation, Birla added.

Following the restructuring of Indal's board, Hindalco is working with Indal to ensure quick integration of processes and systems. This will usher in the benefits of synergies faster and lead to value creation for both Hindalco and Alcan stakeholders, Birla said. He further added that the company had initiated work on a brownfield expansion at Renukoot. The expansion will increase the smelting capacity by one lakh tonne per annum while the alumina refining capacity will be raised by 2.10 lakh tonne to 6.60 lakh tonne, he said. On power, a major expense for the aluminum industry, Birla said that capacity will be augmented by 150 mw to 769 mw. The expansion is slated to be completed in phases by fiscal 2003-04 at an investment of Rs 1,800 crore.