The Association of Indian Forging Industry (AIFI) recently organised a media conference in Chennai to announce its plans as well as the strategy to tackle the challenges facing it.
Mr. S. Muralishankar, AIFI President, and MD, Super Auto Forge, said the Indian forging industry is one of the key players in the auto component manufacturing sector and a major contributor to the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. The growth in the new fiscal can be attributed to a surge in sales of vehicles across all segments in the last quarter. This encouraging growth trend has provided a strong impetus to the forging industry which has made a farely good progress. Forging exports have also increased with growing demand from both Europe and North American markets. At this rate, the industry is likely to witness a growth of more than 10% in the new fiscal year.
Mr. Vidyashankar Krishnan, MD, MM Forgings, and Vice President, AIFI Association, pointed out that the forging industry’s fortunes mainly depend on the performance of OEMs and the auto components industry. According to a SIAM report, the commercial vehicle segment has recorded a growth of 82.70% in the new fiscal. The passenger vehicle sales rose to 7.06 lakh units and tractor sales to 1.51 lakh units, registering a massive 31% growth. However, the industry is facing a lot of difficulties with the roll-out of the GST system as also the threat of closure of small-scale units.
Mr. Abhay Raj Kapoor, JMD, Laxmi – Agni Components & Forgings Pvt. Ltd., Aurangabad, in his address, said the seventh Asia Forge Meet 2019, to be organised in Chennai, will be attracting around 800 delegates from all over India. Apart from the domestic delegates, forging experts from China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan as well as suppliers from all over the world are also expected at the event.
Mr. Vikas Bajaj, MD & CEO, Bajaj Motors Ltd., Gurgaon, observed that despite the forging industry’s growth, there are a few concerns which seem to hamper its overall growth in the long run, like the rising steel and oil prices, as well as the demand and supply gap.
Mr. Yash J. Munot, ED, Varsha Forgings Ltd., Aurangabad, said the forging industry needs overall support from the Government to solve the different problems being faced by it.
The Indian forging industry, backed by a surge in auto sales and the renewed thrust on infrastructure development, registered a growth of more than 10% in 2017-18 and the industry’s estimated production stands close to 25.25 lakh tonnes during the year, providing employment to approximately one lakh people in the country. The total installed capacity is 38.5 lakh MT. Regionwise, the South contributes 5.36 million tonnes with 75 units spread over Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Hyderabad and the cumulative turnover is Rs. 3,700 crores. The estimated turnover of the industry is Rs. 31,189 crores, including Rs. 7,797 crores from exports.
The overall production of forgings is 23.9 lakh tonnes and the industry is growing exponentially as automobile, auto components, manufacturing, Defence, and aerospace industries are expanding fast. There are approximately 75 forging units in the southern region.