The Indian composites industry has grown significantly in the last two decades and keeps momentum to cater for the requirements from the various sectors. The composites industry in India continued its strong growth in 2010 and recorded nearly a 18.5 per cent growth during January-December 2010. The Rs 6,000 crore Indian composites market has been on an upswing over the last five years with a growth of 18.6 per cent, spurred by a strong demand in pipes & tanks, renewable energy (wind & solar energy), mass transit, automotives, trucks, and power sector. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a financial apex body, estimates that Indian GDP could record a growth of over 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal, up from 7.4 per cent in the 2009-10 which is fueling a new set of business for the composites industry.
The Indian composites industry is growing rapidly and is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22 per cent over the next four years. In the last five years, the growth rate in Indian composites market has been approximately 18 per cent annually. By the end of 2014, total Indian composites industry would be over $ 3 billion market. The per capita composites consumption is increased from 2004 to 2010 as compared to 0.1 kgs to 0.2 kgs. However, pipes & tanks, transportation, and wind energy sector represent the high growth rate while traction is towards construction, E&E, and aerospace/defense as well as the untapped and fragmented market makes high growth for the domestic and foreign investment.
Driving Forces
Despite the global economic recession, India has successfully coped with the haunting financial crisis of the last three years. There were many combinations of things that saved the Indian economy from dire consequences of the global downturn, like strong GDP numbers, excellent manufacturing activity, high FDI inflows, core sector growth, and others. In fact, global professional services firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), says that Indian economy will register the second fastest growth between now and 2050 and emerge as the second biggest economy in the world by the middle of this century. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) publication, World Investment Prospects Survey 2010–2012, India will be the second-most popular destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) globally over the next two years.
Major usage of composites in India can be found in sectors like pipes, anti-corrosion equipments, wind mill blade, SMC components, street light poles, telecom cables, electrical parts, and others. The composites industry in India is mainly driven by demand from the domestic consumers such as government, civic bodies, PSUs, and NGOs. Growth in India is highlighted by strong demand in the pipes & tanks, wind energy, transportation and construction application markets; that will provide excellent growth and profit opportunities to the market leaders. The oldest, well accepted, matured, and largest user of Indian composites industry has been the chemical industry due to the particular requirements, which could not be achieved by the traditional materials.
