Aditya Birla Group: Hindalco set to invest Rs 2,000 crore in copper, e-waste recycling

Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco Industries will be investing ₹ 2,000 crore in a copper and e-waste recycling facility, chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said Tuesday. “Your company is making an investment of Rs. 2,000 crore to establish the first-of-its-kind Copper and E-waste recycling facility in India,” Birla said while speaking at the company’s 64th annual general meeting.

Birla emphasised the hazardous nature of e-waste, exacerbated by improper handling, leading to a significant loss of valuable materials. Currently, due to the lack of advanced metal extraction and refining technologies domestically, a substantial volume of e-waste is exported to other nations. So, this step offers a tangible solution that aligns with the company’s and India’s circular economy agenda, he said.

Birla also outlined plans to introduce three more designs of freight wagons in the coming months, targeting specific end-use applications such as transportation of bagged cement and food grains.

In the first quarter of the current financial year, the company recorded a consolidated net profit of ₹ 2,454 crore and Birla expressed his optimism in India’s economic growth, projecting a 6.1% growth rate in 2023. This growth is expected to be driven by strong domestic demand, robust services sector activity, and healthy public capex momentum, he said.
The company recorded a 14% increase in consolidated revenue in FY23 compared to the previous year. He said that this growth was driven by an expansion of value-added products across all its business sectors. Additionally, Hindalco-backed aluminium producer Novelis achieved record net sales of $18.5 billion in FY23, marking an 8% increase over the previous year, with growth projects totalling $3.5 billion underway. Furthermore, the company’s copper business achieved an all-time high Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) of ₹2,253 crore in the same period.