INDIAN ALUMINIUM INDUSTRY: SUCCESS OF RESTRUCTURING

Though the existence of Aluminium was first established in the year 1808, it took almost 46 years to make its production commercially viable. The research work of several years resulted in extracting the aluminium from the ore. Aluminium is third most available element in the earth constituting almost 7.3% by mass. Currently it is also the second most used metal in the world after steel. Due to the consistent growth of Indian economy at a rate of 8%, the demand for metals, used for various sectors, is also on the higher side. As a result, the Indian aluminium industry is also growing consistently. The production of aluminium started in India in 1938 when the Aluminum Corporation of India's plant was commissioned. The plant which was set up with a financial and technical collaboration with Alcan, Canada had a capacity of producing 2,500 ton per annum. Hindustan Aluminum Corporation (Hindalco) was set up in UP in the year 1959; it had a capacity of producing 20,000 ton per annum. In 1965, a public sector enterprise Malco which had a capacity of 10,000 ton per annum was commissioned; by 1987, National Aluminium Company (NALCO) was commissioned to produce aluminium. It had a capacity of producing 0.218 million ton. India is world's fifth largest aluminium producer with an aluminium production competence of around 2.7 million tones, accounting almost 5% of the total aluminium production in the world. India is also a huge reservoir of Bauxite with a Bauxite reserve of 3 billion tones.