Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (BALCO) was an Indian government owned aluminium producer under Ministry of Mines,

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. In 2000, the Ministry of Mines,

sold it to

Vedanta Resources Vedanta Resources Limited is an Indian diversified mining company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mining and non-ferrous metals company in India and has mining operations in Australia and Zambia and oil and gas oper ...

when

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

Bharatiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a centre-right to right-wing and conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of In ...

-led-

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

was in power. BALCO was incorporated in the year 1965 as a central public sector unit (CPSU) and it was the central government-establishment until 2001, when it was taken over by

, a company listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. The

government company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

has been closely associated with the Indian Aluminium Industry, in a pivotal role. Mr. Abhijit Pati is the current CEO & Whole Time Director of the company.

History

It was incorporated in 1965 as a

Public Sector Undertaking A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

. It is the first

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

enterprise in India which started producing

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

in 1974. Till 2001, BALCO was a public sector enterprise owned 100% by

. In 2001,

divested 51% equity and management control in favour of Sterlite Industries India Limited. There's a little history behind the privatisation of the company that was not doing so well being a public sector company. There were groups formed among people or rather BALCO employees namely supporters of privatisation and the ones who opposed it. Rallies and processions were carried out in the evenings to oppose the privatisation and those who supported it were left in minority. Eventually, things happened as they were planned and the company was listed under Sterlite. There were allegation of scam involved in disinvestment of BALCO.

Achievements

The development of special aluminium alloys for "

Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ba ...

" –

Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hi ...

and "Surface Missile" –

Prithvi Prithvi or Prithvi Mata ( Sanskrit: पृथ्वी, ', also पृथिवी, ', "the Vast One") is the Sanskrit name for the earth, as well as the name of a devi (goddess) in Hinduism and some branches of Buddhism. In the Vedas, her ...

have been significant achievements of BALCO. BALCO has been the first in the Indian Aluminium Industry to produce the Alloy Rods, which is a

Feedstock A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feeds ...

for all Aluminium Alloy Conductors, very much needed for today’s power transmission lines.

Criticism

Safety concerns

A chimney under construction by Gannon Dunkerley & Company at the Balco smelter in Korba,

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prad ...

collapsed on 23 September 2009 killing 49 workers.

References

External links

* Vedanta Resources Aluminium companies of India Companies based in New Delhi Formerly government-owned companies of India Indian brands {{india-company-stub