Aluminium - Enriching A Billion Lives

Vedanta is a major producer of high grade aluminium and various other products such as billets and ingots, which are supplied to secondary fabrication units. Although Vedanta has been a significant billet manufacturer for a long time, the requirement spelt out by a new customer - Vikas Altech was a huge challenge. Even today, the micro tubes in automotive radiators are manufactured from copper. Due to ever changing needs of the customer segments, these tubes are now required to be made from special alloys in which aluminium is the base metal. The application called for a special alloy and that too with a specific post treatment process (homozanization cycle). It also called for specific changes in the casting process like the filtration mechanism, changing the filters from 40ppi to 50ppi, additional degassing process etc. All these actions were important since the end-product to be extruded was of a very thin and hollow profile used in automotive air conditioning heat exc...

We all know that cheap imports from China is hurting the domestic aluminium manufacturers the most. But how exactly? And how can this be countered to ensure that the Indian market does not suffer? Let us break it down for you in a simple manner.  Before we begin, let us know about the Safeguard Duty. To safeguard the financial interests of any injured industry in India, the government can introduce a temporary duty (superior to import duty) if it sees a sudden surge in imported goods. This is called Safeguard Duty and is independent of Free Trade Agreements with any country. A  20% duty on imported steel has already been imposed in favour of the steel industry and thus offered relief to the all the domestic steel manufacturers.But this has not been revised for the Aluminium sector in a long time. OK! Show me the numbers! Currently, there is no Safeguard duty for the domestic industry. Cheap exports by China is wreaking havoc on the national aluminium manuf...

In an effort to give a shot in the arm to the ailing domestic aluminium industry, the Aluminium Association of India (AAI) has taken a significant step forward by opening a dialogue with the federal government of India. The aluminium industry in India is going through turbulent times and the domestic manufacturers are bearing the brunt of the downturn in the global commodity cycle which has been further aggravated by huge imports from China & Gulf countries. This can also be attributed to the steady rise in imports, falling aluminium prices and increasing production costs. The industry is presently struggling with a debt of about Rs. 70,000 crores in the domestic scenario which has seen a massive investment to the tune of Rs. 1.2 lac crores in the past few years. The volatility of the LME prices have also abetted in the financial crisis that the aluminium industry is currently facing. In the face of these odds, the AAI has sought help from the government on a three point ...