For the year of 2018, India held second place for being the largest steel casting exporter and manufacturer. The majority of steel casting exporters are found in Coimbatore, Howrah, Rajkot, Kolhapur, Batala, Jalandhar, Sholapur, Chennai, Kolkata, Indore, Ahmedabad, Agra, Gurgaon, Pune, Belgaum, Hyderabad, and Faridabad.
But the steel casting units in these places produce different kinds of steel castings for use in different sectors like sanitation. The Belgaum casting units and Kolhapur casting units cater to the automotive sector. The casting units in Howrah cater to the sanitation sector, while the Rajkot castings manufacturers produce metal casts meant for diesel engines.
Last year India produced an approximate of 106.5 MT. The steel casting industry is divided into three sectors:
● Main producers
● Major producers
● Secondary producers
India produced 90.68 MT finished steel last year and 104.98 MT crude steel. India’s export of finished steel increased from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. In the year 2016-2017, the exported amount was 8.24 Million Tonnes, whereas it was 9.62 million tonnes in 2017-2018. So the increase rate was 17 percent.
What Contributed to this Staggering Output?
There are many factors that contributed to that production numbers, but one major factor is the steel industry of India. The steel industry of India is extremely developed, with all the latest technologies in place. Old plants and machines have been replaced with newer, more advanced machines that double the amount of production.
Another factor is the abundance of raw material in India like iron ore, and as it is already known that India has the cheapest labor force in the world.
Future Prospects for India’s Steel Casting Industry
According to the experts at the rate India is going, it is expected that India would soon surpass the USA in steel consumption. Surpassing the USA will land India in the second position. Also, the industry is predicted to show a growth of 5.7 percent at the end of the year. According to the government’s National Steel Policy of 2017, India’s steel casting industry js to produce 300 million tonnes of steel by the year 2031.
At present, although the per capital steel consumption is nonsignificant, it is expected to rise in the future, which will further benefit the steel casting industry. Experts believe that the railway sector and the automobile industry will play a vital role in the rise of the demand for steel in the future.
A Look at the Present Investments in India’s Steel Cast Industry
Vijayanagar plant owned by JSW steel is to increase production from 13 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes by 2020. JSW steel has currently invested 7500 crores for the enhancement.
Vedanta star Ltd acquired Electrosteel Steels for a total of 825.45 million rupees.
Vedanta group has invested 22000 crore rupees in building a new plant of 1 million tonne capacity in Jharkhand.
Fatal steel got the ownership of Bhushan steel for 461.60 million dollars.
