Vedanta’s push to Make In India – Indigenised manufacturing of aluminium alloy ingots to minimise dependence on imports

#MakeInIndia 

Hello there! You’ve surely heard about the import subtitle billets in our previous post. Right?

Yes! I was pretty impressed with the kind of work that Vedanta is carrying out for customer value addition.  

Well, you’ll be even more impressed when you hear about us making alloy ingots for the automobile industry.

Automobiles. Wow! I would like to know more. But wait! First tell me what an ingot is.

An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In our case, it is basically a slab of aluminium which is made after solidification of the final molten metal during production.

Aluminium ingots manufactured by Vedanta

Nice! Continue…

In India, the automobile industry is one of the biggest manufacturing sectors producing around 23 million units per annum with a gross turnover of $60 billion.

The total consumption of aluminium in auto industry is around 700 KTPA. Various aluminium alloys like A356.2, ADC12, LM25 and LM6 are used for the manufacturing of several auto components. Out of total consumption for alloy ingot, the aluminium alloy used for critical parts (wheels, pistons) is around 130 KTPA. 

An engine piston

An aluminium alloy wheel

It constitutes 50% consumption as raw material (A356.2), whose value addition takes place in India and 50% consumption directly in the form of alloy wheels. The alloy wheels and the alloy A356.2 are directly sourced through imports.

Why?

A major reason for such high imports in this segment is the unavailability of the key raw material to manufacture wheels and other critical components in India. The combined imports of all aluminium alloys in automobile industry presently stands at 450 KTPA which is 65% of all aluminium consumption in the auto Industry.

• To mitigate the risks of unavailability of the alloy, Vedanta ltd. has invested in localising the production of A356.2 in India.
• Last Year, production of A356.2 was started by Vedanta to support Indian wheel and auto part manufacturers. The company has aligned its manufacturing facilities to support the customised requirement of Indian auto industry & indigenization of critical component manufacturing in the country.
• The market size of this product is over $120 million a year and within a year of the launch, Vedanta was able to capture 10% of the domestic market share.
• Today, it is poised to become the single largest source for this critical alloy in the country.

This is amazing.

I’ll tell you what’s more amazing.

Vedanta is also in discussions with key stakeholders for strategic alliances to set up a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the automotive alloys market to produce new alloys that will improve the performance of the end products. Furthermore, it will give immense impetus to the ‘Make In India’ initiative by replacing imports and support expansion of downstream industries in the country.

Indigenization in this segment will enable the wheel manufacturing facilities in the country to install more capacities in India, which will generate employment and increase the revenue to the exchequer.

Aluminium alloy wheels

The endeavours of Vedanta have been well received by the auto industry for bringing a positive change in existing supply chain through innovation and technology.

The Automotive Mission Plan 2026 aims to propel the Indian Automotive Industry to be the engine of the ‘Make In India’ program. The domestic aluminium producers have a huge role to play in partnering various stakeholders essential to realise the success of the campaign. As a result, thousands of jobs will be created making India an attractive destination for manufacturing investments.

This was nice to know. I hope the initiative finds itself contributing to provide India an edge for creating a strong self-sustainable economy.

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