Electrical Transformer Industry Fears Raw Material Shortage.

The Rs 16,000-crore Indian electrical transformer industry, represented by the Indian Transformer Manufacturers' Association (ITMA) has urged the Power Ministry to frame new guidelines to cope with raw material shortages.

"We expect a shortage of cold rolled grain oriented laminated silicon steel (CRGO), due to strong demand for it in the West as well as Africa and other countries. This is expected to hit India's production of electrical transformers," ITMA President Anil Aggarwal told PTI here.

Since India does not manufacture CRGO and is hence entirely dependent on imports, the Association has sought the government's intervention in the matter, he said.

At present, the industry, which is highly fragmented and comprises mainly the small scale and unorganised sector, consumes around 18 per cent of the global CRGO production.

The industry is concerned that dependence on imported technology and raw material will adversely affect local production, due to the prevailing high demand overseas, and a technology denial by foreign manufacturers. To solve this problem, it plans to develop technology in-house and appears confident enough to do so, with some help from the government.

"There seems to be no institution in India which has mastered the CRGO production technology. Countries which manufacture CRGO like Japan, USA, UK, France, Italy, Korea, Russia and Poland, are not keen to transfer the technology," he said.

"We have been trying to get the Steel Ministry to ensure that it is manufactured in India. For instance, the government can push POSCO to manufacture CRGO in India. Corus manufactures CRGO in UK and the Tata group owns that company. The government could encourage the Tatas to manufacture CRGO in India, or even ask the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to do so," he said.

Source : mydigitalfc.com