In the sell off queue
Hindustan Copper Ltd is awaiting the go-ahead to hit the capital market after the cabinet recently approved a proposal to dilute 9.59% government stake in the mining company. The company is already listed on the stock exchanges.
Once a sick CPSU, HCL has moved into the profit zone in the last three years, and is debt-free now. To maintain its growth drive, HCL has drawn up ambitious capacity expansion plans. It plans to almost treble its copper mining capacity to 12.4 million tonne (mt) by 2017 from the existing 3.4 mt a year.
HCL is the only company to have a presence across the entire copper value chain–from copper ore mining to smelting to production of copper cathode and wire-rod. This is the PSU's main strength given that the international copper concentrate market is prone to volatility.
Power and real estate sectors are the key consumers of copper and both the sectors are expected to grow fast with the economy. For example, the government has envisaged 88,000 MW capacity addition in power generation during the current 12th Five-year Plan. That will necessitate matching investment in power transmission and distribution. Similarly, the demand for housing in urban areas are expected to rise as people migrate from rural areas into cities for jobs. That is the reason while the global demand for copper is growing at 2% annually, India's requirement of the non-ferrous metal is growing at 8-9%.
Currently, HCL’s focus is on manufacturing refined copper
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