Bhubaneswar, Aug 19 (PTI) Asserting that the recent tariff hike by the US will have no impact on its business, the National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) on Tuesday said it is focusing on the trade with the United Kingdom which has zero duty.

Addressing a press conference here, NALCO chairman-cum-managing director Brijendra Pratap Singh said the company's standalone net profit soared 77 per cent to Rs 1,064 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year as against Rs 601 crore recorded in Q1 of last year.

Revenue from operations stood at Rs 3,807 crore in the first quarter of FY 25-26, he added.

"The UK has a strong market for electric vehicles and solar panel manufacturing, both of which rely heavily on aluminium. This presents a significant opportunity for us to expand our presence in the country," Singh added.

"The US tariff hike will in no way impact the business of Nalco. Rather, we are exploring the opportunities in the UK, which has zero duty," the CMD said.

In the first quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal, NALCO registered the highest-ever domestic sale of alumina and aluminium, supported by a robust growth in both domestic and export markets, he said.

He added that the company plans to start operations of its Pottangi bauxite mines in Odisha's Koraput district by June next.

"Geo-tendering for Pottangi bauxite mines will be awarded by September or October this year and the mines are expected to be made operations by June next," he added.

The mining block, spread over 697.979 hectares, has an annual production capacity of 3.5 million tonnes and has reserves estimated at 111 million tonnes.

NALCO estimates to invest Rs 1,961 crore to operationalise the mine, Asutosh Rath, a senior executive of the company, said.

Currently, NALCO operates the Panchpatmali bauxite mines with a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to feed its 2.1 MTPA alumina refinery at Damanjodi and its 0.46 MTPA aluminium smelter with a 1,200 MW captive power plant at Angul.

With India’s aluminium consumption projected to reach 7.5-8 MTPA by 2030, NALCO has also prepared an expansion plan to play a pivotal role in meeting the growing demand and reinforcing its leadership in the global aluminium sector, Singh said.

The CMD also informed about the Rs 34,600 crore expansion plan of the company, which is expected to materialise by 2030.

"Out of this proposed investment, the company will spend over Rs 5,600 crore on the expansion of the fifth stream alumina refinery of 1 MTPA capacity at Damanjodi in Koraput district, over Rs 17,000 crore on expansion of aluminium smelter plant at Angul district (0.5 MTPA) and Rs 12,000 crore on constriction of captive power plant of 1080 MW, he said.

The DPR for the expansion projects would be prepared by the third quarter of FY-26 and would be placed for the approval of the Board of Directors, Singh informed.

At present, the central PSU has an alumina refinery of 2.1 MTPA capacity at Damanjodi in Koraput district, aluminium smelter of 0.46 MTPA in Angul and 1200 MW captive power plant. PTI BBM AAM AAM MNB

Tariff impact: NALCO says US tariff hike won't affect business and is pivoting to zero-duty UK market. The US tariff hike will not impact NALCO's business; the company is shifting export focus to the United Kingdom, which provides zero duty access for aluminium linked to electric vehicle and solar-panel manufacturing demand. NALCO plans to operationalise the Pottangi bauxite mine via upcoming geo-tendering and to implement a substantial expansion programme to increase alumina refinery, smelter and captive power capacity, with DPRs to be prepared for board consideration.