Hindalco Industries, an Aditya Birla Group company, plans to restart all projects halted due to the Covid pandemic and invest approximately Rs 2,700 crore in this fiscal year, compared to Rs 1,600 crore in FY21. Due to Covid, the company reduced its proposed Capex from 2,500 crore in June and halted a downstream project in Hirakud, Western Odisha. It also slowed the construction of a 34,000-tonne aluminium extrusion plant in Silvassa, with a Rs 730-crore investment. According to Satish Pai, Managing Director of Hindalco Industries, teh demand for aluminium has surpassed pre-Covid levels, and the company is confident that the revival in demand will continue in the coming days despite concerns about the third wave of Covid. Unlike last year, there has been no exodus of employees this year, and the plants are operating at peak efficiency, he said. The most difficult challenge now is to vaccinate the entire workforce as soon as possible rather than to halt the exodus, he added. Despite the local Covid restrictions, aluminium demand from packaging, building, and construction has been strong, while sales to the automobile sector have slowed since April, according to Pai. Despite the local Covid restrictions, aluminium demand from packaging, building, and construction has been strong, according to Pai, while sales to the automobile sector have slowed since April. In response to the drop in copper demand, Pai stated that the sharp increase in copper prices has increased the working capital needs of user industries, resulting in the slowdown of a few projects. Copper demand is roughly 85% of what it was pre-Covid. Concerning the user industry's concern about high metal prices, he stated that strong demand and a lack of supply have been driving prices in the international market, and the user industry must deal with the current prices because they are market-driven. Initially, a few projects were halted in the hope that copper prices would fall, but instead, they began to rise, he said. The increase in the spread between aluminium and scrap prices has pushed up scrap imports into India, despite the fact that aluminium imports have remained reasonable, he said. According to Pai, the government should set the remission rate for the aluminium sector under the RoDTEP (Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products) scheme at 5% as soon as possible so that Indian exports remain competitive in global markets. Image SourceAlso read: Gensets: Sectors generating business Also read: Bosch stops production at Nashik plant till May 23