Aluminium major Hindalco is keen to set up a plant in Chhattisgarh, good news that comes close on the heels of a record Rs.145 billion ($3 billion) investment in a single day in the state.

"Hindalco wants to have a one- million-tonne per annum capacity plant in state. We have assured that we will provide all facilities, including bauxite raw mining stocks of Surguja and Kawardha districts," Chhattisgarh's Finance and Industry Minister Amar Agrawal told.

He added that a Hindalco team had toured the state twice during the past three months to select plant sites and assess the raw mining stocks.

"Talks with Hindalco are at a very preliminary stage, the government wants it to set up a plant in the state and now it's up to the company to take an early decision and select plant sites," Agrawal stated.

Chhattisgarh has huge stocks of bauxite raw material in the Surguja and Kawardha districts from where the Sterlite group controlled-Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), based in Korba, is getting cent percent bauxite for its annual 100,000 million tonne production.

BALCO is currently expanding its smelter units with Chinese technology, with a Rs.45 billion investment to raise its annual production to 3.5 million tonnes per annum by the end of this year to compete with two major rivals, Hindalco and the government-controlled National Aluminium Company (NALCO).

Chhattisgarh has emerged as a major investment destination for domestic and foreign investors with Rs.350 billion investment mostly in the steel and power sector during the past one and a half years.

Tata Steel signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government Saturday for setting up a five-million-tonne per annum capacity plant in one of the most backward and Maoist-infested regions of the country, Bastar, with Rs.100 billion investment.

The Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) too inked papers with the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) the same day for investing Rs.45 billion in a joint venture for setting up a super thermal power plant of 1,000 MW capacity in Surguja district.