Seeks expedition of environment clearances for similar mines in other states.
Faced with acute shortage of raw material due to the ban of iron ore mining in the country’s largest hub, the Bellary-Hospet region in Karnataka, the Rs 50,000-crore foundry industry has urged the government to allow official and legal excavation here and expedite environment clearances for similar mines in other states.
Institute of Indian Foundrymen’s former president, Subodh Panchal, managing partner of Kastwel Foundries, said here that unavailability of raw materials has forced the closure of a majority of independent foundry units, especially in central India’s Chhattisgarh . “This will have adverse implications in future on auto and mining sectors (the two largest users of ferrous castings),” he told Business Standard on the sidelines of “Casting a Greener Future 2011”, a day-long seminar organised here by Asian Industry and Information Services, a Braj Binani Group company.
Neighbouring Goa alone has nearly 90 of its 140-odd mines facing closure threat due to delay in environment clearances. Said a miner in the tiny coastal state: “The government may not renew their environment clearances this time if they do not follow forest laws and install pollution control equipments.”
Iron ore mining in India has been badly hit in the last one year since the Supreme Court ordered suspension of activities in Bellary-Hospet a few months ago and extended the ban toTumkur and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka, thereby, bringing iron ore mining to a halt in the state. Karnataka contributes nearly 40 per cent of the country’s overall iron ore output. The issue started with control of illegal mining which resulted into the overall mining ban in the state.
Consequently, the foundry hubs of Tamil Nadu and other south Indian states were badly hit, also courtesy the shortage of raw material. Foundry units use pig iron as raw material which is manufactured by iron ore. Miners in other states like Orissa, Jharkhand and Goa are also facing huge problems in getting environment clearances from the government.
Echoing Panchal’s views, Vinod Kapur, Vice President of the World Foundry Organisation, said there was “virtually no pig iron” available in the industry. “This may hinder the overall growth of auto sector.”
The total production of castings in India was reported at 7.4432 million tonnes in 2009-10, generating a cumulative estimated turnover of Rs 44,000 crore. In the previous year, the industry produced 6.8405 million tonnes of castings with an estimated value of Rs 33,000 crore. The growth in the auto sector has supported the foundry sector.
The frequent rise in interest rates by banks is another problem for the foundry sector. The country has around 6,000 foundries, in the large, medium, small and micro scales. Out of the total annual production of 7.5 million tonnes, nearly a third comes from merely 50 foundry units.
An estimated 32 million tonnes of good quality ore is required to meet the need of industry, which gets 3.5 million to 4 million tonnes of its feed from the foundry industry for the production of pig iron.
