Indian Foundry sector urges for duty-free raw materials and technology upgradation fund

Indian foundry industry acts as an ancillary industry to the manufacturing sector as it supports auto, auto components, railways, electric, cement etc. It also acts as a downstream industry for the metal industries like steel, iron and aluminium. The Indian foundry industry is third largest globally with revenue at $ 18 billion & exports of approximately $ 2.7 billion and it is also the second largest producer of castings globally.

Anil Vaswani, president, Institute of Indian Foundrymen, in an interview to Foundry Planet has reiterated the need for the development of the foundry sector in order to support Make in India campaign. He feels, to support Make in India, the foundry sector will need to grow at least 3 folds in next 10 years.

The auto sector has been forecasted to grow to $ 300 billion by 2026 under the New Automotive Mission plan and even if the growth forecast is achieved partly, it will drive demand for castings and foundry sector.

The foundry sector faces a number of challenges as for training and technology development as there is only one national level institute called NIFFT Ranchi in India.  He feels, the government needs to support technological upgrade required by the industry and should establish at least two modern institutes. He also thinks that polytechnics & ITI near major foundry clusters need modernization to cater to growing skill needs.

He also reiterates the need to promote recycling and efficient use of resources and energy for climate change mitigation. The Government needs to support investment in more environment friendly technology and equipment. The sector, he feels should acknowledge new technologies such as 3D printing, robotics, automation and increased use of IT in design & manufacturing.

The quality power at competitive price is a big challenge which poses a challenge to this sector.

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He suggests a few budget proposals to the Finance Ministry regarding the foundry sector:

The import of key raw materials should be made duty free so that the impact of devaluation of Indian Rupee is offset to some extent. In fact some of the raw materials such as steel and aluminium scrap were allowed to be imported duty free.

The definition of MSME was amended 9 years back regarding the cap in investments in plant & machinery and it needs to be reconsidered.

The technology & processes in foundry sector over the last few decades have changed radically and therefore the foundries need to upgrade periodically in the mentioned areas.

A revolving technology upgradation fund of INR 1000 crore is also proposed by him for investments in greener & productive technology in line.