"The domestic consumption is expected to grow at 11 percent annually over the next three years, on the back of continued strong demand from the jelly filled telecommunications sector (JFTC)," it said. This compared with an average growth of seven percent for the past five years, the report said.Indo Gulf, also a major urea maker, is part of the Aditya Birla Group - one of India's leading conglomerates.

Industry officials have estimated India's copper consumption at about 230,000 tonnes in 1998/99. The electrical, telecommunications, power and transportation sectors are the main end-users of copper inIndia.

Indo Gulf said its forecast of a positive outlook for the JFTC sector was based on the government's focus on improving communications facilities in rural areas and increased demand for telephone cables.

"The copper demand will be further strengthened by likely improved demand from the power sector, where it is used for manufacture of power cables," the report said.

The need for a build-up in India's power sector -- generation as well as transmission -- will ensure strong demand for power cables and in turn for copper, Indo Gulf said.

"The company is also evaluating an expansion of its smelting capacity through de-bottlenecking and cost effective expansion."The firm plans to raise its copper capacity to 150,000 tonnes from 100,000 tonnes.

Birla Copper, a unit of Indo Gulf, runs a 100,000 tonne per annum copper smelter in the western Indian state of Gujarat and plans to convert by-products generated by the copper smelter into value added products which will help it improve revenues.