How are SMEs operating in the Non-Ferrous Metals Industry contributing to Indian Economic Growth?

India is one of the strongest and fastest rising economies in the world. The pandemic that led to a lockdown period became a halting time for all its industries but very quickly it has jumped back on track. The new budget 2022 comes as a relief to the economy and encourages the SMEs in the country to build themselves into larger corporations. 

At a time like this, non-ferrous metals find widespread use in the country’s economy. This opens up space for the non-ferrous metals industry of India to develop at a larger level in the near future. The government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative will be a major push in this direction as it plans to increase the manufacturing share of the GDP from 17% to 25% by 2025. 

Over the last few years, India has been able to develop the non-ferrous metals industry by meeting end-user demands from various sectors such as – automotives, construction, electrical, consumer durables, packaging, etc. SMEs have taken a large lead in the non-ferrous metals industry and are contributing to the Indian economy with the development of this domestic market. Here are some of the major non-ferrous metals that exist in the Indian industry:

1. Aluminum: This is one of the most commonly used non-ferrous metals of the Indian industry. It is largely used in the automotive and electrical sectors. These sectors constitute almost 60-65 percent of aluminum. Primary aluminum requirements are usually met through domestic production but at the same time there is considerable import from outside due to a lack of infrastructure in India. 
   
   
2. Copper: Owing to the electrical sector and consumer durables, it is noticed that use of copper has grown from a CAGR of 14 percent over the past five years. Although copper has been growing because of the large and continuous industrialization in India, there is a substantial import of downstream products in India.
   
   
3. Lead: Lead in the Indian context is largely used in the making of batteries which are furthermore used in the automotive and industrial sectors. The use and demand for primary lead has grown at a healthy pace of 7% but at the same time the demand for lead imports isn’t going too low. But as the Indian markets grow larger at the same rate, it wouldn’t require this much imports.
   
   
4. Zinc: Demand for primary zinc in our country is primarily based on the demands of the steel market, which constitutes the steel market that accounts for 70% of the total demand. Although the demand for zinc hasn’t grown at the same rate as other metals because of the entry of galvanized metals into India.
   
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SMEs in India are realizing this increasing usage of non-ferrous metals in the Indian industry and have started to make developments around the treds as defined above. The Indian non-ferrous metal industry is going to have a successful future ahead. This success will have to do with the role of SMEs that it played in the industry and would end up contributing greatly to the economy.