Hindalco Fuels India's Rapid Transit with Copper Breakthroughs

Gandhinagar, India – When Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off India’s first Namo Bharat Rapid Rail in Gujarat lately, it marked a major milestone for Hindalco Industries Ltd, a leading producer of copper and aluminum, two critical metals that are transforming modern transportation and sustainable energy. The new Namo Bharat Rapid Rail, built on the Vande-Bharat platform and being introduced for inter-city travel, runs on electric lines that are made from copper, mostly produced by Hindalco. The company is also a key supplier of the metal for the motors and internal wiring in the gleaming new-age trains in the country.

The Aditya Birla Group flagship’s copper is used in electrifying every two in three households in India and about 95 percent of the railway electrification. Its newly developed Cu-Silver alloys are ushering in the next phase of high-speed and urban transportation, dedicated freight corridors, and the rapidly expanding metro rail network. It is making progress to develop Copper-Magnesium alloys, which will further upgrade the next generation, sustainable electrification.

Hindalco has one of the world’s largest single-location copper smelter complexes at Dahej in the Bharuch district of Gujarat with integrated port facilities. To meet the rising global demand for the metal, the company is expanding its copper smelting capacity at the facility and is exploring building a brownfield factory in the same business-friendly state, which is emerging as the copper capital of the world. Gujarat is the epicenter of copper production not just in India but in the world after China as output surges and newer allied industries come up to meet demand, particularly from rapid urbanization of the country, windmills and turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and batteries, and in everything involved with electrification.

“We are ramping up capacities and building new capabilities and innovative products as copper becomes a critical manufacturing component in India’s transition towards a developed economy and net zero emissions. Electric mobility and renewable energy sectors are driving the demand in a major way. We are also setting up India’s first e-waste recycling plant in Dahej, which will further enhance the country’s capabilities in copper recycling and reinforce Hindalco’s leadership in green practices,” said Rohit Pathak, CEO - Copper Business, Hindalco.

Hindalco is showcasing its latest innovations and sustainability efforts in copper, aluminum, and specialty alumina, at a global conference on sustainable energy in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, from September 16-18 inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Participants in the Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo (RE-Invest 2024) include global leaders, policymakers, investors, and researchers. The company will introduce its Cu-Silver alloy and Copper-Magnesium alloy at the exhibition.

Hindalco’s copper sales topped 500,000 tonnes for the first time in FY 2023-24, making the company the second-largest copper rod producer globally outside of China. Hindalco’s existing unit at Dahej comprises copper smelters, backed by a captive power plant, oxygen plants, by-product and precious metal plants, utilities, and a captive jetty. The company is building India’s largest Copper Inner Groove Tube plant at Wagodia, Gujarat. The project will be commissioned by the end of this calendar year and will reduce the import dependence on this key component in air conditioners. The company has also started work on the first and largest e-waste and copper recycling facility in Dahej.

Over the past 25 years, Birla Copper has developed deep, trust-based relationships with its customers across India and has helped create a thriving copper industry in the country. It has played a stellar role in spawning allied industries such as power cables, winding wires, transformers, and so on that number more than 500 now from less than 100 in 1998 when the 150 KT annual demand for copper was met through imports. Demand is now running at 810 KT and growing rapidly. Most of the major downstream players started as small traders/SMEs in the late nineties and are now big manufacturers with increasing global footprints too, such as RR Kabel, Polycab, Havells, and KEI. Hindalco has been the leading supplier for all of these players, partnering with them in their rapid expansion and growth.

Image source: Hindalco Industries Ltd