India Steel Market Watch
October 8: The Foundry Development Council (FDC), which held its very first meeting since its recent inception, has recommended that it should take up with the Ministry of Power a proposal to revisit the Electricity Act for removal of practical problems being faced by the foundry industry in accessing good quality power at competitive tariffs.
The FDC has noted that, at present, several states are not giving timely approvals, as provided for in the Act, which is leading to faulty implementation of the legislation.
The first meeting of the Foundry Development Council was held in June 15, 2015, ​chaired by the Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP). It was attended by the various stakeholders drawn from senior representatives of the IIF, Ministry of Finance, DGFT, BEE, CEOs of leading units, representatives from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), EEPC etc.
The main objective of the council is to act like a think-tank and to recommend to the Government of India the various sector-specific policy initiatives for sustainable growth of the foundries, which is key to engineering manufacturing in India.
The council, in its very meeting, also recommended review of MEIS for supporting export of castings. It also recommended promotion of mining and availability of sand through reclamation.