A Case For Modernising Domestic Manufacturing

"Aluminium is a metal of significant strategic importance to India, critical to almost all sectors of significance to modern life”

- Rahul Sharma

INDIA IS GRADUALLY waking up to the potential of its minerals and metals industry, which ensured that the wheels of the economy kept running, despite the ravages of the pandemic. In fact, India’s mining GDP increased from Rs 739.90 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 to Rs 913.03 billion in the first quarter of 2021, as per data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). As the world looks at a ‘China+1’ strategy for establishing reliable supply-chains across industry sectors, India is poised to capitalise on its natural advantages of rich mineral resources, strategic geographic location, skilled human capital and manufacturing prowess to become the preferred manufacturing destination of the world.

Aluminium, the strategic metal

The aluminium industry is the largest non-ferrous metal industry in the world economy, and ranks second, next only to steel, in terms of volumes used due to its versatility and diverse applications. India is a leading player in the global aluminium industry with the second-largest aluminium production capacity of about 4 MTPA ex-China. Aluminium is a metal of significant strategic importance to India, critical to almost all sectors of significance to modern life and essential to build a sustainable tomorrow. By virtue of its unusual properties like high strength-to-weight ratio, exceptional design flexibility, superior thermal and electrical properties, 100 per cent recyclability over and over again, aluminium’s demand in space exploration, aviation, electric vehicles, renewable energy production, electricity transmission, construction, consumer goods, and more, is only slated to increase.

The metal(s) of the future