Well-developed non-ferrous metals industry crucial for India: Saraswat

India needs a well-developed non-ferrous metals industry as it provides important raw material to many sectors which are the backbone of economic development, Niti Aayog Member V K Saraswat said on Thursday.

Addressing a webinar on'Indian Non-Ferrous Metals Industry', organised by industry chamber Ficci, Saraswat said as the demand in end-use sectors picks up in future, the non-ferrous metals industry will undergo a complete paradigm shift.

"With increasing usage of non-ferrous metals in several existing as well as emerging applications coupled with new technologies, we can expect a paradigm shift that can change the way non-ferrous metals will be produced and consumed in the future," he said.

In order to further boost the sector,Saraswat emphasised on early implementation of the recycling policy.

"The much-needed reforms on guidelines or standards for boosting domestic scrap recycling would be addressed by the Metal Recycling Policy which the government has formulated along with the industry stakeholders," he noted.

Saraswat further said the industry must also invest more on R&D in order to become globally competitive.

"Government's role is to provide policy initiatives and ease of doing business, but industry must come forward with investments in high-value products for producing not only for the domestic markets but also for exports," he emphasised.

Saraswat also said that the government is working on issues like inverted duty structure, dumping of goods under various FTAs, poor infrastructure, high logistics and power costs and taxation.