Team News Riveting
Balconagar, February 16
The Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), India’s iconic aluminium producer and a subsidiary of Vedanta Aluminium Business, appointed Rajesh Kumar as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Whole Time Director (WTD).
Kumar brings profound industry experience across 36 years in operations, maintenance, project implementation, and productivity improvement in Tata Steel’s Indian and Thai units. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (B Tech) from Banaras Hindu University (IIT BHU) and is a gold medalist in finance from XLRI, Jamshedpur, where he did his master’s in business administration (MBA).
The new CEO of BALCO has extensive experience in organisational excellence, the implementation of large projects, and the commissioning of new plants. He has made significant contributions to the mergers and acquisitions of numerous companies and has led several manufacturing units to achieve world-class production, productivity, and quality benchmarks. He has overseen a wide range of functions, including profit centres, manufacturing, total quality management, operations, industrial safety, production and quality improvement, project engineering, digitization, logistics, human resource development, financial analysis, leadership and strategy.
Kumar replaces Abhijit Pati, who will now serve as Vedanta Aluminium’s Chief Transformation Officer. Pati will play a significant role in the expansion of the aluminium and alumina projects, vertical integration, downstream aluminium business development, and many other areas, in addition to achieving the aspirations of Vedanta’s Center of Excellence and Environmental, Social and Governance verticals. His contribution to strengthening Vedanta’s largest greenfield aluminium smelter project in Jharsuguda, Odisha, is a noteworthy addition to his endeavours, in addition to taking BALCO to newer heights in ESG, operational excellence, and human resources.
Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) is India’s iconic aluminium producer. It is owned 49 per cent by the Government of India and 51 per cent by Vedanta Limited. BALCO is part of Vedanta’s Aluminium Business, a division of Vedanta Limited, which is India’s largest manufacturer of aluminium. BALCO operates a 0.57 million tonne per annum aluminium smelter in Korba, Chhattisgarh. It is also a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. With its world-class smelter and power plants, the company fulfills its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
