Conference on

 

 

Challenges for Indian Copper Industry
& Newer OpportunitiesY

 

 

 

 

held in

 Mumbai on

22th March, 2018

 


   

 

“Copper industry is an emerging industry of our country and the consumption of copper will grow in the near future” said Mr. Anil Nayak, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India during his inaugural address at the Conference on “Challenges for Indian Copper Industry & Newer Opportunities” organized by Indian Copper Development Centre in association with Bombay Metal Exchange Ltd. & Indian Non-Ferrous Metal Manufacturers’ Association, held in Mumbai on 22nd March 2018. He also added that “India needs to explore the domestic copper deposit in order to reduce import of copper concentrate”. Prior to that Mr. B. K. Binani, Conference Chairman & Managing Director, Rashtriya Metal Industries Ltd. and Mr. Rikab Mehta, Conference Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Mehta Group of Industries addressed the participants and also highlighted the issues like FTA and RCEP from which the entire copper industry of the country is suffering badly.

 

 
 

 

 

Mr. Rajive Kaul, Chairman, Indian Copper Development Centre mentioned how Indian Copper Development Centre has been working relentlessly for more than five decades for the benefit of the copper industry in India. Mr. Santosh Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Ltd. also addressed the participants. He mentioned that it is high time that we should identify and explore new reserves of copper ore in the country. He also added that as India is far behind the world average with respect to copper consumption, there lies huge opportunity for growth of copper consumption.

 

During the inaugural session, Mr. Rameshwarlal Kabra, Founder Chairman, RR Global was felicitated for receiving the coveted Padmashri Award in the field of Trade & Industry this year. Mr. J. C. Laddha, Chief Executive Officer – Copper Business, Hindalco Industries Ltd. was also felicitated for his induction into LME Copper Committee by invitation.

 

The inaugural session ended with the Vote of Thanks proposed by Dr. D. De Sarkar, CEO, Indian Copper Development Centre.

 

After the inaugural session, a very lively Panel Discussion on “Challenges for Indian Copper Industry” was held. The panelists as well as the audience interacted on various issues like, Inverted Duty Structure, FTA, RCEP, mining policy, etc. The Panelists included were :

 

·           Mr. Anil Nayak, Joint Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Mines

 

·           Mr. D. K. Choudhury, Executive Director (Mines), Hindustan Copper Ltd.

 

·           Mr. J. C. Laddha, Chief Executive Officer – Copper Business, Hindalco Industries Ltd.

 

·           Mr. Alok Ranjan, Head – Copper Marketing & Concentrate Procurement, Vedanta Ltd.(Unit Sterlite Copper)

 

·           Mr. Shreegopal Kabra, President, Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA)

 

·          Mr. D. K. Jain, President, Indian Non-Ferrous Metal Manufacturers’ Association (INFMMA)

 

·           Mr. Rikab Mehta, President, Bombay Metal Exchange Ltd. (BME)  

 

·           Mr. Hitesh Patel, Chairman, Winding Wire Division, IEEMA

 

Mr. Anil Nayak in reply assured that he will look into the issues raised by the panelists. Mr. Rajive Kaul moderated the Panel Discussion.

 

During the post lunch session there were five very interesting technical presentations on applications of copper based products in HVAC, Energy Efficient Motors, Marine and newer areas.

 

The one day conference was extremely lively, which was participated by about 100 participants from about 50 organisations including primary producers, downstream product manufacturers, users and traders.