Scenario

Metalworld Research Team

ith an estimated output worth US $ 2.08 billion (Rs The share of small and medium foundry industry in

W 10,000 Crore) the Indian foundry industry is the

sixth largest in the world after USA, China, Japan,
Russia & Germany. It is second largest player after china in
terms of units & number of people employed. Over 4,500
India in total is as follows:
Foundry Industry Type Share Export Share
Small 80% 13%
Medium 10% 17%
recognized foundry units including small, medium & large Large 10% 70%
scale sectors all over the country, approximately 90% are in the
small scale. Indian foundry has a sizeable export turnover of Exports
goods valued at Rs 2,000 crore per year. The growth in the The Exports are showing Healthy trends approx 25-30% YOY
Industry is primarily due to growth in the auto component as can be seen from the charts below. The current exports for FY
industry with a staggering market size of $650 - $700 billion. 2005-06 are approx USD 800 Million
With the new liberalized polices of Govt. of India, Indian Year Industrial castings
Foundry Industry has taken a new shape to cater to the present (Rs in Crores)
domestic and export demand of the nation. 2001-02 879.45
Currently, the industry is growing at 6% a year, and is 2002-03 976.15
determined to increase this over to 20% by 2010. The latest
2003-04 1289.5
World Census of Castings by Modern Castings-USA, India
produces an estimated 6 mmt of various grades of Castings as 2004-05 1383.14
per International standards, proving that the foundations of 2005-06 1638.85
Indian foundry are strong enough to cater domestic demands 2006-07 2055.55
and exports. (Source: World census-Modern castings)
The various types of castings which are produced are ferrous, Workforce
non ferrous, Aluminium Alloy, graded cast iron, ductile iron,
Steel etc for application in Automobiles, Railways, Pumps
C o m p r e s s o r s & Va l v e s , D i e s e l E n g i n e s ,
Cement/Electrical/Textile Machinery, Aero & Sanitary pipes &
Fittings etc & Castings for special applications. However, Grey
iron castings are the major share of approximate 70% of total
castings produced.
Out of 4500 fully functional metalcasting units 80% can be
classified as Small Scale units & 10% each as Medium & Large
Scale units. Approx 500 units are having International Quality
Accreditation. The large foundries are modern & globally
competitive & are working at nearly full capacity. Most The industry directly employs over 5,00,000 people and
foundries use cupolas using LAM Coke. There is a growing indirectly over 1,50,000 people & is labour intensive. The small
awareness about environment & many foundries are switching units are mainly dependant on manual labour However, the
over to induction furnaces & some units in Agra are changing medium & Large units are semi/ largly mechanized & some of
over to cokeless cupolas. the large units are world class

22 April 2008

Foundry Clusters in India
Batala, Jalandhar, Rajkot, Agra, Belgaum, Chennai,
Comibatore, Pune, Howrah, Kolhapur and Ludhiyana
Modernisation
While these foundries have always striven to be up to date with
modern casting technology & practices, the year 1991-1992
was a watershed in the development of the Industry. With the
government taking the route of de-regulation, open economy &
globalization, many new green field foundries were set up, with
modern equipment like High pressure molding technology,
automatic sand plant and latest in NDT like spectrometer,
magnetic particle testing, ultrasonic & X-ray examination.
Entry of many multinational units post 1992 particularly in
automotive sector helped the shift from small scale single
owner driven foundry to medium / large sector with
professionals inducted even at departmental levels like
molding, methoding, melting, production etc.
Assimilation of modern technology like simulation software, 3-
D modeling of the drawing, use of computers in solidification
simulation, has brought the Industry at par with the best in the
world. Due to the intrinsic better understanding of the
drawings, modern equipment, lower labor costs etc, has made
the Indian Casting Industry globally competitive.
Competitiveness
Economic risks
lProject development costs
23
Scenario
Approval of the methodology
l
Measurement of baseline
l
l High transaction costs of monitoring, verification &
certification
l Multiple owners/stakeholders
Social Risks
l Weighing & recording of coke consumption
l Poor record-keeping practices
l Software (best operating practices) is as important as
hardware
Unlike the Chinese growth in export markets (which in volume /
tonnage terms is far greater than the Indian one), Indian export
growth has come in high end cast products, higher technology &
complicated shaped castings, serving the Industries like auto
components, pump & valve Industry, mining & minerals &
earthmoving machinery etc.
India has perhaps the largest pool of engineering manpower,
with 95% able to speak & understand English, offshore product
development activity is possible. With about 4-5 hours of time
zone difference actually helps in working virtually in real-time.
With very low machining costs, (and matching facilities like
heat treatment, plating and painting operations) India is
speedily emerging as a hub for purchase of ready to use
components (instead of mere casting) or at least a semi-finished
component, with only finishing operations done in Europe.
Additional area where Indian foundry Industry has made a mark
is in the area of value engineering and cost reduction, like
conversion from Steel casting to ductile SG Iron casting, from
Malleable iron casting to ductile iron casting, from forging to
casting etc.
April 2008