ALUMINIUM INDIA 2008 opened with a bang with Dr Subbarami Reddy Hon’ble Minister of state, Ministry of Mines, inaugurating the international conference and exhibition at the Mumbai Exhibition Centre. In his inaugural speech, the Minister said “India is the 8th largest producer of aluminium. By 2020, India would have an aluminium capacity of 17-20 lakh TPA. India’s aluminium demand is likely to grow by 14% this year, mainly due to the booming trends in construction, automotive and consumer durables sectors. These sectors consume around 40% of the total aluminium”.

The other speakers on the occasion were Mr. J P Singh, Secretary of Mines, and Mr. B. L. Bagra, Director, Nalco, All the major Indian players like NALCO, HINDALCO, BALCO, and Vedanta Resources are also present in a big way . 124 companies from across 21 countries are participating in the 3 day event. It has attracted major players as it’s going to be a perfect platform to meet, interact and transact business dealings with the precise target audience.

Mandeep Singh, COO & Director ,Reed Exhibitions India – organizers of the 3 day Show- talked about the Reed’s global portfolio of ALUMINIUM events and the relevance of the show at this point in time.

This exhibition is important from the international perspective as well as the latest technology used the world over will be on display, There will lots of new suppliers which will be a good ground for tie-ups and collaborations. This exhibition in a gist is an international meeting place for the entire Aluminium industry and its various application sectors.

The concurrent conference Alcastek 2008, is being chaired by Dr Madhukar Nilman has a very relevant theme” Technology and Innovations in Emerging Markets”. The plenary session which has a theme “Global trends “on February 22 from 11.00 A.M. onwards will have speakers like Mr. G.Kirchner, Chairman of Global Aluminium recycling Committee, Germany., Mr. U.Patel, Principal consultant CRU, UK, and Mr. P.Suri, President of Aluminium major BALCO. The afternoon session will focus on Transport sector with speakers from corporates like Mahindra and Mahindra, Ausmelt, Australia, and Alcan, Germany. The other important and relevant topics to be covered are Environment and Management, Cast House Technology, Recycling and Melting and Rolling and Extrusion.

The Day 1 technical sessions were focused on global trends and the Transport sector. Environment Management was discussed in detail, with special focus on carbon trading.

Orissa is the Partner State in this first ALUMINIUM INDIA Conference& Exhibition and Dr Reddy spoke on the transformation of the state from one of the most backward to the investment destination of India. In a recent ASSOCHAM survey Orissa has emerged as the leader in attracting investments. Because of the unique advantages Orissa has in terms of mineral reserve & availability of Coal & Power , it has been able to attract 4 new aluminum complexes with more than 4 mtpa alumina and 1 mtpa aluminum smelter capacity, already under implementation (US$ 10 Bn). The availability of large reserves in good quality bauxite provides Orissa a competitive advantage for aluminium production. The total Bauxite reserves in Orissa estimated at around 1.80 Bn MT (60% of India’s reserves).

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