Sterlite-controlled Bharat Aluminium Co has raised Rs.700 crore through a six-year syndicated rupee loan. The loan with an average interest rate of 6.65 per cent was lead-arranged by ABN AMRO Securities. Union Bank of India, UCO Bank and Export-Import Bank of India are amongst the eight lenders.

In November 2003, Balco had raised Rs.1,000 crore through a domestic term loan. With this, the entire debt component of Rs.1,700 crore of the Rs.4,000 crore ($800 million) Korba aluminium smelter expansion project has been tied up.

It may be recalled that Vedanta Resources had raised $1 billion through an international IPO. Around $225 million from this issue would be used for the Korba project.

Balco is in the midst of expanding its Korba smelter capacity in Chhattisgarh from 1 lakh tpa to 3.5 lakh tpa. A captive power plant of 540 MW is also being set up to meet the increased power requirements.

It may be mentioned that Vedanta Alumina, another group company, is executing a Rs.4,000 crore greenfield project of setting up a 1.4 million tpa alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Orissa. Around half of the alumina production would find its way to the Korba smelter, with the rest earmarked for exports.