The board of directors will meet earlier the same day to consider the accounts for 1997-98. The blue-chip company, mainly engaged in lignite mining in Kutch district, earned a net profit of Rs 85.42 crore from a turnover of Rs 239 crore in the last fiscal.

The company, with an equity base of Rs 318 crore, has decided to set up a 250 mw power plant at a cost of Rs 1,180-crore 250 mw power adjacent to its own lignite mines in Kutch. It has already floated a new company, Gujarat Alumina & Bauxite Ltd (GABL), to revive its 7.50 lakh tonnes per annum export-oriented alumina project near bauxite mines, also in Kutch, albeit at an escalated cost of Rs 2,800 crore, in collaboration with Indian and foreign companies.