Vedanta Aluminium, part of London-listed Vedanta Resources, has urged the government of India to curb exports of bauxite to foreign countries so that domestic industry could get the required amount of raw material.

Vedanta Aluminium said that ensuring sufficient amount of the mineral for the domestic industry would help the industry to grow faster, and help in the growth of the overall economy.

It said allowing bauxite exports at this crucial point of time could not be justified in the interest of the nation.

In a letter to the ministry of mines, the Vedanta wrote, "Allowing bauxite exports at the cost of domestic industry by some of the state governments, when the domestic aluminium industry is suffering for want of bauxite, cannot be justified in the national interest."

Vedanta's Odisha-based refinery has for some time been operating at 70 per cent of its capacity of 1 million tonnes of aluminium production per year. It is the scarcity of bauxite that has been preventing the facility from operating at its full capacity. It requires 10,000 tonnes of bauxite per day to operate at its full capacity.

India is the world's fifth-largest bauxite producer. But factories have been suffering lack of raw material mainly due to local protests over land acquisition.

The company also urged the government to take steps to open new bauxite mines in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, which account for as much as 2.5 billion tonnes of reserves of bauxite.