India is preparing to live its ‘100 Smart Cities’ dream. With a vision to build a better India through modernization and digitization, the government is marching ahead with great zeal to transform 100 shortlisted cities with high prospects into “smart” hubs in a phased manner. The project would see a complete overhaul of housing, energy, transport, technology and infrastructure of these chosen cities, which means a burgeoning of opportunities for companies operating in these sectors. Construction being a significant part of this entire process would be seen as consuming a lot of aluminium bar rods and profiles as the green metal fits perfectly into applications like fenestration, facades, curtain walling, structural glazing, roofing and cladding applications.
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{alcircleadd}While Indian aluminium extrusions manufacturers will see demand for their products rising exponentially over the tenure, aluminium bar rods and profiles imports will also increase significantly as the domestic supply would not be able to adequately match up to the demand. The international trade data shows, aluminium bar rods and profiles imports in the country will reach 41487.41 tonnes in 2017 rising by 5.4 per cent from 39359.91 tonnes in 2016.
The five-year historical data shows aluminium bar rods and profiles imports in India have risen at approximately 5 per cent rate since 2013 with an yearly drop reported only in 2014. The surge was significant in 2016 when the volume of imports grew almost 21 per cent to 39359.9 tonnes from 32558.04 tonnes a year ago.
The cost of aluminium bar rods and profiles imports has also escalated over the period under review. India imported aluminium bar rods and profiles worth US$ 110.37 million in 2016, up 6.9 per cent from 2015 (US$103.25 million). In 2017, the total commodity import is going to be valued at US$115.5 million, up 4.7 per cent from the previous year.
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The countries that supplied India with its majority volume of aluminium bar rods and profiles in 2016, in addition to its domestic production, include Australia (12225.60 tonnes), China (11005.14 tonnes), UAE (3272.95 tonnes), Oman (1836.58 tonnes), Bahrain (1441.82 tonnes), and Russia (1252.64 tonnes).
The Union Cabinet has approved a budget of INR98,000 crore for the 100 Smart Cities mission that the Prime Minister had announced in June 2015.
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