India pioneered in producing and making use of various metals like iron, steel, and zinc as early as 3rd-4th century BC. Even today around the small mining town of Zawar, one can locate sites where the extraction of zinc was perfected in ancient times in a very crude yet effective way.

With huge deposits of iron, coal, dolomite, lead, zinc, silver, gold, etc. India is a natural destination the for mining and metal industry. In the last few decades, the proliferation of engineering colleges ensuring the supply of top-class manpower and economic liberalisation ensuring access to world-class technology coupled with India’s own home-grown expertise in IT has powered three-fold growth in steel making.

This was closely followed by growth in Zinc mining and smelting, establishing the nation on the global metal map. India’s aim to become a global hub for manufacturing under “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” is a testament to the country’s prowess in the metal and mining sector.

India needs to focus on infrastructure building to recover from the pandemic slump. The various flagship infrastructure projects announced by the government of India will result in a big boost to the steel industry and its downstream metal sector.

Infrastructure push

The demand for zinc is also tied to the demand for galvanized steel that ensures infrastructure has a longer life and is corrosion-free. Although 60 per cent of the zinc produced is primarily consumed in galvanization, the segment is still under-utilised and with growing demand for safer and sustainable solutions, the potential for galvanized products is huge.

Other metals like aluminium in windows and doors, copper in pipes and alloys like zinc die casting in faucet handles are also crucial to the infrastructure story.

Furthermore, Railways is also geared up for a series of upcoming projects such as 100 per cent track electrification, dedicated freight corridors and high-speed rail corridors that will see a rise in the demand for zinc and copper. While the galvanisation with zinc contributes towards building safer and stronger tracks, copper will be needed to make the overhead wires.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared India’s vision of Net Zero Carbon emission target by 2070 at the COP26 Glasgow Summit making sustainability a key driver of economic growth.

With an ambitious target of 450 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030, the government plans to meet half of the country's power demand with clean energy resources. Silver is a critical component in the manufacturing of solar panels and in the nation’s journey towards carbon, the metal and its growing downstream industries will play a significant role. Simultaneously, storing this clean energy will be equally important, which will see a huge scope for recyclable lead-acid batteries.

Add to this, is the rising demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs) where the greener base metals that ensure high strength, yet low weight density steel components will drive the transformation. EVs will open newer applications of such metals where we will see zinc-based storage batteries, aluminium supported chassis, copper wired harnesses and the use of rare-earth metals to manufacture the magnets for the motors.

The government’s boost to green energy and infrastructure is expected to drive consumption and power the demand for automobiles; both in passenger as well as commercial vehicles, further giving a push to metals. The challenge of the automotive industry to balance power performance at one end and reduced emissions at the other end has made the sector explore metals like aluminium to reduce weight.

Globally, countries are extensively investing in robotics-based innovations to create drones, self-driving tractors, robotic harvesters, automatic watering systems and seeding robots. For India too, the need of the hour for enhanced agricultural crop production is mechanization and adoption of these cutting-edge technologies, which will also give a huge boost to rural consumption of metals.

Additionally, the other big focus remains high yielding crops that are rich in micro-nutrients ensuring food security for the country. This will need better soil management and essential growth nutrients for crops thus opening the market for fertilisers that offer the right doses of micronutrients such as copper, iron, manganese, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and zinc.

The Metal & Mining industry continues to be at the forefront of India’s economic development. As a direct contributor to over 2 per cent of India's GDP, the sector also gives direct and indirect employment to millions of people across the nation. The industry can be the much-needed booster dose for the nation’s growth trajectory.

Currently, the exploration and mining policies are centred around the mining of surficial minerals like bauxite, iron ore, limestone, coal, etc. whereas India continues to import over $100 billion minerals of which more than 75 per cent are deep-seated, strategic and precious mineral/metals like gold, copper, zinc, nickel, etc.

More favourable policies that support the opening of exploration and mining of such minerals through global e-auction and allowing private players an opportunity to pick areas of interest, define the block, explore and mine to keep pace with the growing demand can be the real game changer for India’s dream of a $5 trillion economy.

The writer is CEO, Hindustan Zinc