The two flagship programmes of the government - ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’ got a big boost at the maiden CII Welding conference today. Speaking during the session Mr. Y S Trivedi, Sr Vice President and Member of the Board – Heavy Engineering IC, Larsen & Toubro stressed, “The amount of weld in a nuclear reactor and submarine is less than 2 and 8 percent respectively, yet these welds decide the fate of the INR 12,000 crore submarine as well as determines whether a nuclear power plant lasts 10 years or 60. If we have to transform India into a global manufacturing hub we need to pay attention to welding.” Further he commended that welding holds immense potential for employment and skill development initiative and has a major role to play in the nation’s growth. 

Talking of the present welding industry, Mr. Chetan Ligade, Director, BDB India said that the sector today stands at INR 4,000 crore out of which INR 2,800 falls under consumables and INR 1,200 crore under welding equipment market. Driven by infrastructure, the welding industry is slated to pick up rapidly in the next few quarters and by 2021 the consumable market will grow to INR 4,200 crore and equipment market to INR 1,500 crore. On this occasion a special report on Indian welding industry was released.

Elaborating on the importance of R&D in manufacturing sector Mr. D G Padmanabham, Director, International Advanced Research Centre for Power Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), emphasized, “In the west, 70% of R&D funding comes from the industry and 30% from the government whereas in India only 10% comes from the industry. This needs to change. When industry funds a project it drives R&D with purpose, focus, application and absorption. Hence, industry R&D interaction has to be strengthened.” Sharing his experience on industry government collaboration he averred that the success rate has been always very high when there is co-operation and collaboration. 

Mr. A Shivkumar, Conference Chairman and Former Chief Executive, EWAC Alloys Ltd said, “The stakeholders in the welding sector such as researchers who work on materials, manufacturers, people who execute it like welders and the final beneficiary the consumer – are not connected and aligned to a common agenda. At CII we aim to bring all stakeholders together to create a common agenda and goal to meet challenges and make opportunities available to them in the future.”

16 November

Mumbai