The Hindu Business Line : ‘Castings industry may need $2-b investment’

Chennai, Oct. 2 The domestic foundry industry has a tremendous scope to increase the production of castings and might require over $2 billion investment in the next five years as the advanced countries such as the US, Japan and Germany are not increasing their production capacity in this field anymore.

With over $8.3 billion worth or 6 million tonnes (mt) of castings production a year, India is the fifth largest producer of castings in the world after China (24.4 mt), the US (12.89 mt), Japan (7.65 mt) and Russia (7.62 mt). And it is expected that Indian production can jump to 10 mt in the next three to four years, said Mr V. Mahadevan, President, the Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF) and Managing Director of Ennore Foundries.

According to him, the industry, which is labour intensive, currently employs over two million people both directly and indirectly. With the production likely to go up to 10 mt, the industry may create an additional 1.3 million jobs.

Global congress

In this backdrop of buoyancy, the IIF will conduct the 68th World Foundry Congress at the Chennai Trade Centre between February 7-10. Mr Mahadevan announced at a press conference recently.

The event will attract over 2,000 delegates from world over, he said. There will be over 200 stalls focusing on foundry equipment suppliers of raw material suppliers, service providers and castings manufacturers.

College proposed

As there is dearth of skilled labour for the industry, the IIF is also planning a foundry college and research college. As Tamil Nadu is one of the major contributor to the industry and accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s castings export (in value terms), the college is proposed to be located in the State.

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