India has the potential to emerge as a definite alternative to Chinese aluminium in domestic and global markets, said Rahul Sharma, CEO of Alumina Business, Vedanta.
“Globally, India is the second-largest aluminium producer after China. By creating sustainable framework to utilise India’s abundant natural resources, India will create a definite alternative for Chinese aluminium, both, globally and in the domestic markets, wherein imports have captured 60pc of the domestic market space even when adequate domestic production is available,” Sharma told Davis Index.
Aluminium demand of India is expected to double to 8-10mn mt by 2025 which will need fresh investments of over $25bn. India can harness this immense potential that can result in creating millions of jobs, making the nation self-reliant and a global leader in aluminium, Sharma added.
He said, “Aluminium is the metal of strategic importance due to its role in energy security, national defence, aerospace, automobile, infrastructure and packaging, and plays a vital role in the government’s visionary initiatives like Make in India, Smart Cities, Power for All, and the indigenous space programs”
Sharma welcomed the government’s move to allow joint auction of coal and bauxite blocks that are the primary raw materials for aluminium production. India has abundant reserves of coal and bauxite.
India should not squander this natural advantage of key raw material availability by fixing high reserve prices as done currently for bauxite, Sharma said.
“Rather, the government and the industry should work jointly to make the Indian industry globally competitive,” he added.