The composites industry expects to achieve a market size of $2.5 billion by registering a compounded annual growth rate of 14 per cent by 2021.

Driven by a strong demand among end-use sectors such as transportation, wind energy, electrical and electronics, pipes and tanks, aerospace, defence, construction and marine, the composites industry, also known as the fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) industry, expects the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiatives also to give a big impetus to future growth.

Listing out the major challenges, the FRP Institute in its recent White Paper said the per capita consumption of composites in India at 0.3 kg is among the lowest, compared with 2.5 kg in China and 11 kg in the US.

Lack of awareness among end-user industries is a major stumbling block for growth.

The FRP Institute has organised an International Conference and Exhibition on Reinforced Plastics, 2019 between January 10 and 12 in Mumbai to share knowledge and bring the users and producers on a single platform.

Fragmented structure

In 2018, the Indian composites market has registered a growth of 6 per cent to 3.4 lakh tonnes, lthe highest since 2015.

The industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8 per cent to reach 4.9 lakh tonne capacity by 2022. In September 2017, Reliance Industries made a foray into the fast growing Indian composites market.

The Indian composites industry is fragmented, consisting of around 3,000 stakeholders in the value chain including small, mid-sized and large players across the country.

Challenges

Lack of regulatory framework, absence of a recycling policy and standardisation of end-use products are some of the major challenges for the composites industry.

Narayana Reddy, Chairman, FRP Institute, said the planned international conference will discuss innovations and ways to enhance the quality of materials and products.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW