– MSME Minister at CII’s National Foundry Conclave.
Union Minister for MSME Nitin Gadkari, urged and encouraged the foundry players to focus both on the domestic and global demand, which has undergone disruption especially after the covid-19 and to capitalize the underlying opportunities.
He said this after inaugurating CII’s 10th Edition of National Foundry Conclave. This is a 6-days event that began on January 20 and goes on till January 29, 2021 on a Virtual Platform. It is held in association with The Institute of Indian Foundrymen
Delivering the Inaugural Address at the conclave, he also requested industries to reduce imports and assured his support from his ministry and further guidance with the other ministries.
Speaking on the quality improvement and towards decreasing production cost and in response to industries request on concession for introducing technologies to address environment issues, Gadkari mentioned the request shall be taken up with Ministry of Finance and duly considered.
He suggested and encouraged industries to join with Government in setting up skill and innovation centres which can be steered and led by industries and industry associations in joint partnerships with institutions.
Hari Thiagarajan, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu & Executive Director, Thiagarajar Mills P Ltd addressing at the conclave highlighted about the total Manpower in Foundry Sector which is approx. 500,000 Directly & 150,00,00 indirectly and further mentioned the foundry sectors potential to generate additional employment of 2 Million in next 10 years.
Vijay S Beriwal, President, IIF & Chairman, Calcutta Iron Udyog addressing at the conclave, mentioned that, Foundry sector needs a Roadmap and Suitable policy interventions to improve its global market share to the tune of 7 – 8 %, which is achievable. He concluded by mentioning that, use of renewable energy sources is the need of the hour and as an effort towards climate mitigation practice as Foundry Industry is power intensive.
R.Saravanan, Chairman, National Foundry Conclave & Managing Director, Sandfits Foundries Pvt Ltd, spoke on the theme, “Driving Efficiency – Enhancing Productivity by Adopting Automation & Technology from Global Best Practices” stressing on the need for automation among foundry members and sustainable production practices.
J Ganesh Kumar, Chairman, CII, Coimbatore Zone & Managing Director, Indo Shell Cast Pvt Ltd, delivered the welcome remarks.
K. Samaraj,Past President, IIF & Managing Director, Magna Electro Castings Pvt Ltd interacted with the Minister on the issues faced by the foundry industry.