The Indian machine tool industry has around 1,500 units across the country, mainly involved in the production of machine tools, accessories/attachments, subsystems and parts. Of these, around 25-30 are in the large-scale sector, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the industry’s turnover.

Now, as the sector gears up to embrace Industry 4.0, Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman of the Board of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd and Chairman, Exhibitions, Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA), spoke to BusinessLine about the sector’s future. Excerpts:

As the country moves towards the adoption of Bharat Stage 6 (BS6) emission norms, how does the future look for machine tool companies?

The engine technology has to be changed. So there will be a lot of re-tooling with concomitant demand for machinery.

And at the same time, ‘light-weighting’ needs are there. Wherever possible, the re-design must lead to lower weight. These are the major opportunities.

As for the actual technology of BS6 in India — most of the time what is happening is that the tolerances that are required in the engine components are getting tightened.

It’s one of the ways to get better fuel efficiency; essentially, the machines have to be better and steadier, and the tools that you need for cutting, grinding, etc. have to be different and better.

What are the prospects specific to the machine tool industry?

As mentioned earlier, all these require better machines. So, the upgrade that is needed in the quality of the machines, the demand for new machines to serve various sectors such as space and defence, along with changes that are required to meet the BS6 emission norms are potential prospects.

With regard to the aerospace industry, where is the Indian industry headed and its prospects?

In the aerospace industry, the domestic requirement — for both defence and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) — is growing all the time. In fact, we are going to manufacture in India everything that ISRO uses .

But the manufacturing demand from ISRO is not that large. At one time, we were doing just 4-5 launches annually and now it is around 12-15 launches a year.

It is expected to go up to 25 launches in the next five years.

Hence, the number of launches is not that large, so the pace of growth is slow.

With defence manufacturing on the rise, what are the prospects for the machining sector?

More and more private companies are getting involved in defence manufacturing. Currently, the whole process of buying defence equipment is complicated and takes a long time.

But otherwise, the demand is very good.

ISRO has grand plans to onboard the private sector, especially with small satellite launches. So, where does the machining industry stand now?

Whether they are launching small satellites or vehicles, there is a lot of industry involvement.

The number of vendors that they have for both mechanical components and for chemicals like rubber oil is also huge.

What is happening on the import substitution front, especially with regard to the machine tool sector where imports now account for 50 per cent?

I think we should not worry about that because machines are imported not just because there is a great demand, but also because of their very nature.

Sometimes, they (the machines) are different from what is made in India.

This is true especially for speciality machines, which by default, need to be imported. So, we really should not worry about imports.

But we should focus on how the industry in India attempts to meet the demand.

Which means it not only needs to step up production, but also focus on R&D and innovation.

Related Topics