Aluminium major Nalco is contemplating moving a review petition in the Supreme Court for reconsideration of the decision to cancel allotment of a coal block to the Navaratna PSU.
“As Utkal—E coal block is among the 214 blocks de-allocated by the Supreme Court recently, we have asked our legal experts to examine the apex court verdict,” Nalco’s Chairman and Managing Director Ansuman Das said here last night.
Nalco almost met the criteria on which the Supreme Court allowed four coal blocks to operate, Das told reporters, adding that after obtaining legal opinion on the matter, the company is likely to file a review petition.
Claiming that Nalco has made considerable progress in developing the coal block and has 60-70 per cent land acquisition for the project, he said the company would explain as to why coal block development was delayed.
Maintaining that Nalco was a public sector company, Das said the aluminium major had not entered into any joint venture with any private company. Nalco had so far invested about Rs 100 crore for development of the coal block, he said.
Besides exploring overseas sources of coal from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Qatar, Nalco would also approach the Centre to provide coal linkage to its power project till coal block allotment was settled, he said.
On the company’s performance, Das said Nalco posted a net profit of Rs 642 crore during 2013—14 compared to Rs 593 crore achieved in the previous fiscal, registering a jump of 8 per cent.
The company achieved highest ever exports at Rs 3,719 crore during the year as against earlier highest of Rs 3,410 crore during the previous year, showing an increase of nine per cent, the Nalco CMD said.
Similarly, the company generated revenue of Rs 46.81 crore during the year from renewable energy against Rs 2.64 crore revenue earned in previous year, he said.
The company sold highest ever quantity of 13.43 lakh mt of chemicals in 2013—14 as compared to 9.85 lakh mt sold in 2012—13, Das said.
Stating that the company is currently embarking upon an ambitious growth plan, he said it involved a substantial investment in next 3 to 4 years, not only in aluminium sector, but also in energy sector.
This would give a significant boost to NALCO’s productivity and profitability, Das said, adding that a lot would depend on availability of coal.