Industry Forecast 2017 Investment Casting for India by Deepan M. Dave, Dynatecsales T


he year 2016 offered Indian investment


casters major challenges. both


opportunities as well as some The commercial


oil & gas, industrial equipment and pumps and valves sectors has suffered contractions. Investment casting sales increased 2% in 2016. Forecast for 2017 remains positive for all sectors. Indian forecast of Investment Casting sales for 2017 in various sectors are depicted in Figure 1.


Automotive & Medical Turbocharger wheels is a developing investment casting market in India. Since these components offer an effective improvement in fuel consumption and


emission control, demand for


such parts is on the rise prompting certain investment casting foundries to exclusively focus on turbocharger wheel casting production. In consideration of the various Indian foundries, their relative size and reports of growth levels, it can be estimated that Indian automotive industry investment casting sales grew in 2016. Most of these foundries believe they will see similar growth levels in 2017. With lowering fuel costs more affordable methods of manufacture, including Metal injection Molding, Stamping and Forging have regained focus. Foundries manufacturing medical


devices saw a rise in production levels. Medical investment castings sector in India is very minimal and this sector growth in India in the near future may not occur, in the face of established competition in US & Europe with high production capacity levels and cost reduction


programs implementation.


Orthopedic implants sector largely depends on imports.


Indian forecast of IC sales for 2017 by commodity are depicted in Figure 2.


20 ❘ January 2017 ®


India


General Industrial, Commercial Castings


Casting sales remain extremely competitive and it seems growth levels are currently stagnant. A large percentage of the world’s oil rigs are either not in operation or producing below capacity levels which has resulted in a decline in commercial casting sales. Foundries are taking the pragmatic view that oil and gas production, and thus investment casting foundries sales serving this sector, will have plateau period in 2017. Pump and valve production is low by several percentage and Indian sales of investment castings to the heavy equipment sector has downsized. Almost 75% of the Indian investment casting market produces general industrial, commercial investment castings. Overall sales


pattern indicates some regions


performing better than others with variation from foundry to foundry. A lot of these general commercial investment castings are exported through various channels primarily in Europe & US. Development of commercial investment casting foundries in India offers competition to foundries in countries such as China.


Defense & Aerospace


India is poised to become a large commercial and defense aircraft market. Most foundries producing castings related


to aerospace, in recent defense and


nuclear power are state-owned. India’s defense industry, which has grown substantially


years, seems


headed for even better days, Growth in domestic demand should continue to be robust, the government has a clear vision for an indigenous defense industry, India’s attractiveness to global defense companies is rising due to shrinking global defense budgets, and India has tremendous potential to offer engineering services and component sourcing. Indian produced investment castings serving aerospace, defense and nuclear power sectors together is about 6% of the total investment castings produced in India. It seems China’s aviation and aerospace industry in the last two decades has made rapid development in comparison to India. Industrial gas turbine is a developing field with great potential in India, although currently there is no significant production capacity developed. Despite difficult market conditions


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