Foundry industry grows despite problems

BANGALORE: The Indian foundry industry is growing at the rate of 15 per cent annually owing to increasing share of local manufacturing in the GDP and strong demand from the international markets. However, the supply of iron ore, the principal raw material for foundries, has become a major cause for concern with mining units in Karnataka, Goa and Chhattisgarh facing severe impediments.H Sundara Murthy, President, Institute of Indian Foundrymen said, “For the next five years, the India foundry industry will be on the growth trajectory, reaching an all-time high of 20 per cent. The scope for growth is tremendous,” he said but lamented that  poor supply of iron ore and erratic power supply to foundry units are seriously impacting the growth of the sector. He said that there are an estimated 5,000 foundries in India producing castings of grey iron, ductile iron, SG iron, malleable steel, mon-ferrous and steel totaling approximately 9.05 million metric tons (2010) annually. He also stated that the industry employs 500,000 people and indirectly about 150,000 people. India’s share in the global market is approximately 10 per cent of 91.67 million metric tonnes  and India is the second largest producer  of foundry-based castings while China is the market leader with 43 per cent (39.6 million metric tons) of the total output. “The total requirement of castings is about 20 million metric tons in India per year,” he said.