Bharat Aluminium Company
Encyclopedia
Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (BALCO) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 company. It was in the public sector until 2001, when it was taken over by Vedanta Resources
Vedanta Resources
Vedanta Resources plc is a global mining and metals company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mining and non-ferrous metals company in India and also has mining operations in Australia and Zambia. Its main products are copper, zinc, aluminium, lead and iron ore...

, a company which is listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...


History

It was incorporated in the year 1965 as a Public Sector Undertaking. It is the first public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...

 enterprise in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 which started producing aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 in 1974. Till 2001, BALCO was a public sector enterprise owned 100% by Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

. In the year 2001, GoI divested 51% equity and management control in favour of Sterlite Industries India Limited.

There's a little history behind the privatization of the company that was doing so well even being a public sector company. The reasons were never made public and during the month of Jan and Feb 2011, the town went through complete transformation. There were groups formed among people or rather BALCO employees namely supporters of privatization and the ones who opposed it. Rallies and processions were carried out in the evenings to oppose the privatization and those who supported it were left in minority. Eventually, things happened as they were planned and the company was listed under Sterlite.

Achievements

The development of special aluminium alloys for “Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile” – Agni
Agni
Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods...

 and “Surface Missile” – Prithvi
Prithvi
Prithvi is the sanskrit name for earth and its essence Prithivi Tattwa, in the form of a mother goddess or godmother. Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, Dhrithri, meaning that which holds everything. As Prithvi Devi, she is one of two wives of Lord Vishnu. His other wife is Lakshmi. Prithvi is...

 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 for all Aluminium Alloy Conductors, very much needed for today’s power transmission lines.
http://www.balcoindia.com/images/image.jpg
Now they are in to the power generation as well, which is mainly a coal based power plant.

And now they are looking into the Nuclear power, which is still not open for private sectore as per Government of India's rule.

Safety Concerns

A chimney under construction by Gannon Dunkerley & Company
Gannon Dunkerley & Company
Gannon Dunkerley & Company Limited is a civil engineering construction company based in New Delhi, India.-History:Mr. Henry Gannon and Mr. J.H. Dunkerley who were in business in India from 1895, joined together in 1918 to form Gannon...

 at the Balco smelter in Korba, Chhattisgarh collapsed
2009 Korba chimney collapse
The 2009 Korba chimney collapse occurred in the town of Korba in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh on 23 September 2009. It was under construction by Gannon Dunkerley & Company Limited for Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation , who themselves were under contract for the Bharat Aluminium...

on September 23, 2009 killing at least 45 workers. Balco and GDCL management have been accused of negligence in the incident.This was the time when BALCO had a huge dent on their reputation
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