Undettered by the controversy generated over Balco's privatisation, Sterlite chairman Anil Agarwal said over the weekend that "we will make substantial investment to make Balco a world class benchmark producer. its productivity will improve by 10 per cent in the next 6-8 months."

Asked to explain the massive difference between his bid and that of AV Birla group's Hindalco at about Rs 275 crore, Mr Agarwal said "we have gone by the advice of our financial advisors. We have bid what we thought was the real value of Balco and I do not want to talk about Hindalco's bid.'

Pointing out that Sterlite's move to acquire Madras Aluminium (Malco) a few years ago and Balco most-recently should not be viewed as a "takeover spree", Mr Agarwal said that the group had a long-term vision to make the individual companies lowest cost aluminium producers in the country.

Sterlite will concentrate on its core strenght of metals and optic fibres and "our success depends on us, being the lowest cost producer in the world."

"The vision is not to acquire Balco merely to run it, but convert it into a platform to move on and take on the international market," Mr Agarwal said.

Chalking out the roadmap for the profit-making Balco with threats of labour unrest looming large after the controversial deal, Mr Agarwal said that the group was ready to "overcome all handicaps" to acheive 10 per cent productivity improvement by 2001 end.

"Going forward within a period of three years a big aluminium complex would come up in the state of Chattisgarh," Mr Agarwal said.

The group has committed itself to making substantial investments in Balco, Mr Agarwal said adding that Sterlite will not withdraw any investment from the state.

"I can assure you that Sterlite will not take away a single penny from the state and all the investments made would be `one-way' only," Mr Agarwal said.

He said that Sterlite will soon appoint an international consultant to undertake a feasibility study for reaching an exact estimate of quantum of investments to be made in Balco.

(PTI)