Editorial – June 2023
As mentioned in my earlier columns, India is the fastest growing large economy of the globe surpassing the big powers like Germany, Japan etc. and behind just the US and China. Now a days, a lot of emphasis is being given to infrastructure development which is expected to consume huge volumes of metals in all forms including the castings. The foundry sector is really special in the big umbrella of metallurgical industry. As we know, the metallurgical sector comprises of many sub-sectors like mining, sponge metal production, melting, rolling, etc. based on the process and also like special alloys based on composition and applications.
Though castings are the basic requirement of many industries, a typical foundry spreads lot of dust and is perceived as a dirty industry. Many times, it tends to violate the pollution control norms and this is the reason western developed world with stringent pollution regulations are discouraging the growth of foundries This provides ample opportunities for Indian foundries in the western world markets like the US and EU Africa too can be an emerging market. Of course, ‘Exports’ are easier said than done. One has to take care of many things in order to be really competitive in the international markets. Today, the word competitive does not merely apply to the price but also to the
technology, quality, housekeeping, complying to the safety carbon emission and pollution norms etc. Unfortunately many foundries in the country are still far away from this operational culture and have to work a lot in this direction. Of course there are others which have successfully achieved international standards and are exporting the castings all over the world.
Around 50% of the castings go as auto parts to the growing automobile industry and the remaining in various industries like power, infra, engineering, etc. If India has to grow by over 6% annually. the metallurgical industry including the foundries has to grow substantially. Now in last few years, the new sectors which have emerged as a big consumers of castings are Defence and railways As you know, now a days, a lot of emphasis is being given to indiginization of defence equipment as well as the expansion of railway routes and also new gen trains like Vande Bharat. Further India has also started exporting defence equipment. All this has given a big boost to the foundry sector in the country. I surely see the domestic demand curve rising steadily for the next few years
Thus with consumer industries like automobile and defence progressing well, the future of foundries in the country looks secured and bright!