Seminar on 

 

OPPORTUNITIES IN COPPER BASE PRODUCT MANUFACTURE IN INDIA

 

 

 

Le Royal Meridien

Mumbai

 

 

 28th February, 2008

 

 

 

 

Indian Copper Development Centre organized the above Seminar on 28th May, 2008 at Mumbai. The Seminar was attended by about 120 participants consisting of captains of refined copper producers, downstream semis manufacturers and senior experts from important end use sectors.

Dr. L.R. Vaidyanath delivering the Presidential address.  Also seen on the dias (L to R) are Mr. T.U. Shenava, Mr. Ramesh Nair, Mr. S.C. Gupta, Mr. B.M. Sharma and Dr. D. De Sarkar.
Mr. S.C. Gupta delivering the Inaugural address.

 

Mr. S. C. Gupta, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Limited, was the Chief Guest. He inaugurated the seminar and delivered a very informative and thought provoking inaugural address. He reminded that copper has the greatest influence on development of civilization, and still continues to make vital contribution in sustaining and improving the society. Various statistics cited by him reemphasized the opportunity existing for copper based industry including a host of new application areas. He warned the industry about possible threats of substitution by alternate materials. In this context Mr. Gupta stressed the need for indigenous R & D – which is neglected and often looked upon as non-productive expenditure. Since there is vast potential, the resources need to be mobilized through an appropriate institutional initiative by the industry – and Indian Copper Development Centre can play a stewardship role in taking this agenda forward. Given the magnitude of work involved all need to work together, which will pave the way for sustainable and vibrant growth of the Indian copper industry.

 

Dr. L. R. Vaidyanath, President, Indian Copper Development Centre, presided over the inaugural ceremony. He mentioned that the extent to which the present economic growth is copper intensive needs to be clearly understood. The consumption of the red metal is growing steadily and the ultimate users are looking for reducing dimension, quality improvement and consistency as also total economics. The copper industry needs to look into important issues like scale of operations, energy efficiency, quality consistency, yield improvement and waste minimization. The aim should be to compete with countries like China, and manufacture / supply quality products at a competitive cost.

 

Mr. B.M. Sharma addressing the participants.
Address being delivered by Mr. Ramesh Nair.

Mr. B. M. Sharma, Joint Executive President – Marketing, Hindalco Industries Limited (Unit : Birla Copper), while addressing the participants as Guest of Honour complemented ICDC for the good work done during last 4 decades of existence. He mentioned that Dr. Vaidyanath is synonimous to copper industry in India. Being a representative of the copper producers, he assured that whatever development takes place in the semis industry, copper producers will be step by step with them. He stressed upon the fact that lot of initiatives have been taken in last year or two where the industry was brought closer to the international scenario through their pricing – their offer to the industry on LME pricing. Opportunities are plenty in this field and many new capacities can come up as the deliberations are likely to indicate. He suggested that whatever decisions are taken based on the presentations and discussions, we should take a perspective of 5-10 years ahead rather than a short term views keeping global opportunities in mind as the copper producers have done.

 

Mr. Ramesh Nair, Vice President (Marketing), Sterlite Industries (I) Limited, was also present during the inaugural session as a Guest of Honour. He mentioned that copper industry is going through one of the fastest growing periods during the last few years – CAGR of 15% in India alone. The primary producers see a domestic consumption growth rate – may be higher than 20%. India has 8.7% GDP, FDI is expected to be 25 billion in 2008 FY, and 30% of its population is currently urbanized and another 20% will join this group in next 20 years. This will lead to increased domestic market potential. The downstream semis industry need to come up and meet the challenge. Till 10 years back India was importing primary copper, but now the scenario is reversed. Primary producers have the same vision that India should become a net exporter of downstream products like China.

 

Mr. S.C. Gupta lighting the inaugural lamp.

 

Mr. T. U. Shenava, Managing Director, Industrial Tubes Manufacturers Pvt. Ltd. welcomed the dignitaries and distinguished participants. He emphasized that the theme of the Seminar is very apt and important at this juncture. To effectively utilize the available opportunity, it is necessary for all concerned with copper industry in India to get to-gether, deliberate and discuss and find out the right way to make India a global player in copper based product manufacture.

 

Dr. D. De Sarkar, CEO, Indian Copper Development Centre, proposed Vote of Thanks and reassured the industry that it will continue to work towards development of a globally competitive Indian copper industry. He also mentioned that the suggestions and advice from the industry are most welcome to fine tune its activities.

 

Ten experts representing copper producer, ultimate user and semis manufacturer made following presentations during the three technical sessions chaired by Mr. S. J. Kanal, Chairman, Shree Balaji Industrial Corporation; Mr. S. C. Gupta, Member (M&C), Ordnance Factory Board; and Dr. R. K. Malhotra, Managing Director, Spirotech Heat Exchangers Pvt. Ltd. respectively. Discussions followed presentations in each session.

 

Discussion in progress during Technical Session – I.
Discussion in progress during Technical Session – II
Discussion in progress during Technical Session – III

 

 

·           Indian Copper Scenario – The Growth Opportunities

by Rajan Gupta, Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd., Mumbai

 

·           Copper Based Semis Manufacture – Challenges & Opportunities

                 by Dr. D. De Sarkar, Indian Copper Development Centre, Kolkata                                                                                               

·         Trends in the Use of Copper Tubing for HVAC Applications in India

by Dr. R. K. Malhotra, Spirotech Heat Exchangers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

 

·         Copper Conductors for High Voltage Motors  

 by K. K. Puranik, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Bhopal

 

·           Copper : The Right Choice for Power Transformers

by Dr. Vivek Singal, Dr. Asha Ingle & Dr. Janamejay Nemade, Crompton Greaves Ltd., Mumbai

 

·           Our Journey with Indian Copper Industry by Switchgear Manufacturer

by AG Saoji, Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Mumbai

                

·         Fragmentation of Capacity and Resultant Impact on Economy

by Mahendra R. Mehta, Precision Wires India Limited, Mumbai

 

·         Indian Copper Based Rolled Product Manufacturing Industry 

–  A Perspective    

by D. K. Jain, Agrawal Metal Works Pvt. Ltd., Rewari

 

·           Challenges and Opportunities of Copper Bus Bar Manufacturer

by Nirmal Thakkar, Citizen Metalloys Ltd., Ahmedabad

 

·           Copper Tube Manufacturing in India … the Road Ahead

by Gurmit Singh, Rajco Metal Industries Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

 

 

The Panel Discussion on “Converting Opportunities into Business Activities – Possible Road Map” was presided over by Mr. M. Samajpati, Director – Finance, Hindustan Copper Limited. The other panel members were Mr. D. K. Jain, President, Indian Non-Ferrous Metals Manufacturers’ Association and Joint Managing Director, Agrawal Metal Works Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Surendra Mardia, President, Bombay Metal Exchange and Chairman, Mardia Extrusions Limited; Mr. Amol Mehra, Head – Domestic Marketing, Sterlite Industries (I) Limited; Mr. Vinod Mehta, Vice President, Winding Wire Manufacturers’ Association and Executive Chairman, Bharat Insulation Company (India) Ltd.; Mr. S. K. Sharma, Asst. Vice President – Marketing, Hindalco Industries Limited (Unit : Birla Copper);  and Mr. Gurmit Singh, Managing Director, Rajco Metal Industries Pvt. Ltd.  Dr. D. De Sarkar was the rapporteur.

 

A view of the audience during a question – answer session.
Panel discussion in progress.
A view of the audience.
Another view of the audience.

 

The panel members expressed their views on how to go forward, which were supplemented by useful comments and suggestions by the participants. These enabled to identify certain key-issues for further consideration and action by ICDC with further input from primary producers, semis manufacturers and concerned associations.