Anrak Aluminium Limited (AAL), a joint venture of Penna Group and Ras Al Khaimah, has exuded confidence of starting operations of its 1.5 million tonne alumina refinery in Visakhapatnam in the next few months, almost five years after its construction with Hyderabad High Court passing a judgement in favour of it.
The High Court has recently asked the State Bank of India (SBI) to withdraw its petition against the one-time settlement proposed by the AAL over the non-performing asset (NPA) tag attached to the loans borrowed by the company. The company has spent ₹6,000 crore on building the refinery at Rachapalle in Makavarapalem mandal, about 80 km from the city.
The AAL has agreed for one-time settlement of ₹1,275 crore to the SBI-led consortium of lenders against a loan of ₹3,461 crore. The AAL has contended that they took up the construction of the refinery as per the MoU signed in 2007 with the undivided Andhra Pradesh government and attributed their failure to launch operations of the refinery on time due to cancellation of agreement for supply of bauxite ore.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) had promised to supply the raw material from Jerella and other blocks. The refinery needs 4.5 million tonne of bauxite ore per annum to run at its full capacity. But, the agreement was scrapped post-bifurcation by the State government who had cited several discrepancies in inking of the deal.
The SBI then had filed a plea in the National Company Law Board against the AAL for default in the repayment of loan instalments under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Raw material
“Now, we will source a part of out requirement of bauxite ore during auctions by Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation and Odisha Mining Corporation. Odisha has bauxite mines at Kakirigumma and Kodangimali in the undivided Koraput district, which is close to Visakhapatnam,” AAL vice-president (works) L.S. Rao told The Hindu.
In addition to the two States, AAL is also planning to meet its raw material requirement from Australia, Indonesia and Guinea. “Once we start full-fledged operations, we will provide direct and indirect employment to 20,000 to 25,000 people,” Mr. Rao added.