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Casting and Forging

The Indian casting and forging industry is well established, particularly the casting industry. According to the recent World Census of Castings, India ranks as no 6 country in the world producing an estimated 6 Million MT of various grades of castings as per international standards.  The industry is undergoing important upgrading in value and technology also thanks to several global players choosing to invest in India such as Volvo, Volvo, Suzuki, Hyundai, Delphi, Ford, Tata Cummins and GM.

Both casting and forging are coming up strongly especially thanks mainly to the booming automotive sector, with India rapidly becoming the small car hub of the world.  The forging sector especially has a lot going for it in terms of the shift that is taking place with the industry moving away from developed markets, seeking a lower cost of compliance to ever intensifying stringent environmental conditions being set on the industry.  India’s low labour cost and advanced technology will render the country a highly attractive destination for sourcing casting and forging products for years to come.  

 Whilst much of the current demand is domestic, exports are significant (casting US$1.2bln, forging US$430mln) and expanding rapidly around 25% per annum for quite a few years already. Key destinations are United States and Europe.

 

CASTING
Number of Units 4,500 units, 80% small scale, 10% medium and 10%large
International  Accreditation  500 units
Capacity 7.8mln MT (up 300% in last decade)(6mln MT at intnl. stds.)
Product Mix

·        grey iron (70%)

·        steel (12%)

·        ductile iron (9%)

·        non-ferous (8%)

·        others (1%)
Technology Complex machined and precision castings as per international quality standards
Main End-user Segments Auto (50%), Engineering (30%), construction (10%)
International FDI Volvo, Suzuki, Hyundai, Delphi, Ford, Tata Cummins, GM
  FORGING
Number of Units 400 (10 large, 100 medium)
Organized sector 65-70%
Investment US$700 million (approx.)
Capacity 1.5 million MT/year
Product Mix

-      Closed die forging (61%)

-      Open die forging (16%)

-      Others (23%)      

       ·        Cold Forging      

       ·        Roll Forging      

       ·        Warm Forging      

       ·        Ring Rolling      

       ·        Machining      

       ·        Shell Forging      

       ·        Axial Close Die Forging
Capacity Range

-      Closed: Up to 0.6 MT

-      Open: Up to 13 MT

-      Upset forgings up to 260 mm dia. and ring rolls up to 3m

-      The industry leaders have closed die hammers up to 16 MT, forging presses up to 16 MT and upsetters up to 26cms.

-      Capability to handle the following materials:

      ·        Alloy Steel

      ·        Carbon Steel

      ·        Stainless Steel      

      ·        Special Steel      

      ·        Aluminium

      ·        Non Ferrous

      ·        Titanium

      ·        Super Alloys
Main end-user segments Auto 60%, Engineering and agro machinery  (10%), Railways and mining (5%)
Overseas M&As  Europe, USA and other emerging economies
  CASTING AND FORGING INDUSTRY  STRENGTHS
  • Cost competitiveness in terms of labour costs.
  • Well established manufacturing base.
  • Matured industry level.
  • Proven product development and tooling capabilities.
  • Strong engineering skills and robust IT domain knowledge.
  • Five Indian companies have received deming prize, out of which two are in the forging sector.
  • Top companies in both castings & forgings have world class manufacturing facilities
CASTING AND FORGING INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITIES
  • The higher cost of environmental compliance in EU is leading to closure of casting & forging units across Europe and they are off- loading the components involving casting & forgings to Asia.
  • Switch to value added products and niche products.
  • Growth of auto sector in India is giving big boost to casting and forging industry to upgrade both capacities and quality.
  • New opportunities arising in the hydrocarbons/ petro- chemicals sector globally.
  • Buying the closed units in EU and shifting plants to India and cater to their local customers by exports from India

Export Performance

Casting Forging
Exports US$1.2 bln. US$432 mln. (est.)
Export growth 25% 24% p.a. since 2005/6
Main exported products (segments) ·         Automotive and industrial (50%)·         Municipal (50%) Automotive (tier 1&2)
US, EU US, EU, China
Future outlook Bright with major upsurge of auto sector anticipated KYOTO effect will continue upswing Exports 2015 estimated at US$20 bln.
India exported forgings whose value is estimated at around US$ 472 million in 2007-08. Technological developments have also contributed to export growth.