WE CONTINUE TO INVEST IN MODERNISATION AND EXPANSION OF OUR PRESSES AND KILNS

In an interview, Sameer Nagpal, CEO, Dalmia-OCL, talks about the refractory market and how Dalmia-OCL is reducing imports of magnesia-based refractories in India.

- Rahul Kamat

In a post-Covid-19 world, there would a greater call for the Indian steel industry to become self-reliant and produce an increasing amount of high-quality steel to reduce import dependence. How does Dalmia-OCL, focusing on high standard refractories, rise to this challenge?

The Indian Steel sector is doing extremely well despite covid and progressing well towards the 300 million tons (MT) target set by the government. This growth in steel production requires higher quantities of refractories, which when combined with a preference for India-made refractories is resulting in robust demand for our products. We at Dalmia-OCL have been debottlenecking our plants, expanding our capacities for over two years now. We continue to invest in modernisation and expansion of our presses and kilns, equipment for making better quality products, all of which is helping us grow our order book. Today, we have one of the biggest manufacturing footprints for a refractory company in India. We have contributed significantly to reducing imports of magnesia-based refractories, some special products like snorkels, and critical application monolithics.

Dalmia-OCL has launched a new refractory line in Odisha to bring down the import dependence on China. How is this brownfield project helping the company to tap some of the growth areas? What is the market share that you are targeting with the launch of this new line?