Nalco, NINL ink MoU to establish coal tar pitch plant in Odisha

India's Navaratna public sector undertaking National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has signed a Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) with Neelachal Inspat Nigam Limited (NINL) for establishing a joint-venture coal tar pitch producing company. The move is in line with the State owned aluminium major's revised business strategy of investing in backward integration in order to sustain its aluminium smelting business.

The plan involves establishment of a coal tar distillation plant using raw material produced by the domestic steel producer's coke oven plant located in Odisha's Kalinganagar industrial town. The plant has an annual capacity of 1.1 million tonne.

Source: Nalco

Commenting on the development Nalco’s chairman and managing director Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand said, “The agreement is part of the new business plan of NALCO to ensure backward integration and sustain the plans for forward integration.”

As per the agreement, NINL will be preparing the techno-economic feasibility report required for the project.

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The MoU was inked by S K Satpathy, General Manager (Business Development and R&D), Nalco and S B Jagdale, joint managing director of NINL in presence of Dr. Chand at Nalco’s Corporate Office in Bhubaneswar. Other senior officials from Nalco who were also present include, N R Mohanty, Director (P&T), K C Samal, Director (Finance), V Balasubramaniam, Director (Production), B K Thakur, Director (HR), and K N Ravindra, Executive Director (CS).