Howrah foundries (West Bengal)
Introduction
The industrial city of Howrah hosts about 3000 industrial units. These include a cluster of about 320 foundries that provide direct employment to about 15,000 people. All the units use cupola furnaces for melting; in recent years, a few foundries have also started using induction furnaces. The cluster produces about 2500 tonnes of castings daily. The production capacity of units varies from 50 tonnes per month to 1000 tonnes per month. Over 90% of castings produced in the cluster are cast iron; the remaining are ductile iron and steel castings. The total annual turnover of the cluster is about Rs 1350 crores. The Howrah foundry cluster is renowned for exporting sanitary castings to several countries in five continents.
Products manufactured
Cast iron, ductile iron and steel castings for applications like sanitation, machinery bodies, counterweights, pump and valve bodies, jute mill spares, railway, defence and mining
Number of MSMEs
320
Energy consumption
Medium
Main fuels
Coke; electricity
Production & turnover
750,000 tonnes castings
Total energy consumption (toe)
73,760
Leading industry association(s)
- Indian Foundry Association (IFA)
- Howrah Foundry Association (HFA)
Cluster Profile
https://www.sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Howrah-Foundries-West-Bengal.pdf
Other Resources
- Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF) http://www.indianfoundry.org
- District Industries Centre, Howrah MSME Development Institute (MSME-DI), Kolkata http://www.msmedikolkata.gov.in/
Source: Data pertains to 2015-16, collected primarily under the TERI-SDC EESE project