VEDANTA RESOURCES IZA-HZL Team Up To Galvanize Indian Auto Industry
Mumbai, 14 October, 2015: International Zinc Association (IZA), in a joint initiative with IIT-Mumbai and Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), a subsidiary of Vedanta, organized an interactive session to raise awareness of the benefits of galvanized steel in the Indian automotive industry.
'India loses around 5% of GDP every year due to corrosion losses vis-a-vis around 3.2% in The United States, so we have a significant potential to save the country from 1.5 to 2% of GDP loss by galvanizing. We shall extend full support to International Zinc Association in this fight for corrosion. We are a company which believes in sustainability of our stakeholders and we are future ready with our product 'Continuous Galvanizing
Grade of Zinc' which is specifically used for Galvanized Steels and is presently being supplied to select Indian steel manufacturers,' said Mr. Vikas Sharma, COO (Smelters), Hindustan Zinc Ltd.
Galvanized steel primarily has two distinct benefits-first, it protects the steel from corrosive attack acting as a continuous and lasting shield between steel and the atmosphere. Secondly, it acts as a galvanic protector, sacrificing itself slowly in the presence of corrosive agents.
'This is the magic of Zinc. Galvanized steel is one of the simplest but most effective innovations that has revolutionized the global automotive industry,' said Prof. Khanna from IIT Mumbai, who has steered a study on corrosion in cars in Mumbai.
The Professor stated that Indian cars which usually use coated steels, give the look and feel of international cars but not all cars provide perforation warranties, which is the right of the customer. Apart from these, use of Galvanized Advanced High Strength Steels helps in the reduction of car body weight, emissions and improves safety performance along with fuel efficiency, which is in line with the requirement of the new age cars for Indian roads.
Indian car makers use galvanized steel for the body panels, but only for the export models. Galvanized steel has been used for decades across Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea for body panels. The wide use is mainly owing to the regulatory frameworks in the developed economies.
'All car models exported from India are galvanized as per the regulatory norms mandated by US/ Europe, but the same car models are not galvanized for Indian market. The overall benefit to the automaker to convert the 400 kilogram car body-in-white from cold rolled steel to galvanneal is estimated to offset the material and processing cost,' said Mr. Kenneth D'Souza, Consultant (Canada) International Zinc Association, adding that emissions of a vehicle are expected to reduce as it gets lighter and lighter.
The sixth largest car manufacturer in the world, India is a key market for the automotive sector. Steady economic growth and robust consumption trends make it one of the most attractive regions for auto companies to launch their products and align the designs with international models. A study by IIT Bombay proved that of the 500 odd cars surveyed, four major corroded areas emerged: bonnet, boot, rocker and door panels.
The IZA has set up an International Galvanized Auto Body Partnership (GAP), in collaboration of the zinc, steel and automobile industries aligned in support of the market for advanced corrosion-resistant sheet steels in automobiles. The program aims to expand performance of galvanized advanced high strength steels through process improvements in automotive galvanizing lines and extending capabilities of zinc-based coatings.
Eighty percent of the GAP program funding comes from the steel industry, whose involvement in the design and direction of the program leads to direct transfer of results to the automotive industry. Many advanced vehicle designs are now making use of GAP program results. According to experts, the usage of high strength galvanized steel has several benefits including low maintenance, anti-perforation warranties or corrosion resistant material are quite common.
The International Zinc Association (IZA) was created in 1991 by a group of leading zinc producers and is guided by the principal of undertaking actions that positively influence the market and image of zinc.
IZA provides a forum for the zinc industry to analyze and anticipate issues affecting zinc globally and to ensure a timely and appropriate response. IZA coordinates initiatives good for zinc that are best done collectively, undertaken either directly or through involvement and support of customer groups and related stakeholders on the local, regional and global levels.
About Hindustan ZincHindustan Zinc (NSE & BSE: HINDZINC) is the one of the largest integrated producers of zinc-lead with a capacity of 1.0 million MT per annum and a leading producer of silver. The Company is headquartered in Udaipur, Rajasthan in India and has zinc-lead mines at Rampura Agucha, Sindesar Khurd, Rajpura Dariba, Zawar and Kayad; primary smelter operations at Chanderiya, Dariba and Debari, all in the state of Rajasthan; and finished product facilities in the state of Uttarakhand.
Hindustan Zinc has a world-class resource base with total reserve & resource of 375.1 million MT and average zinc-lead reserve grade of 11.5%. The Company has a track record of consistently growing its reserve & resource base since 2003 and currently has a mine life of over 25 years.
The Company is self-sufficient in power with an installed base of 474 MW coal-based captive power plants. Additionally, it has green power capacity of 309 MW including 274 MW of wind power and 35 MW of waste heat power. The Company has an operating workforce of over 18,000 including contract workforce. Hindustan Zinc is a subsidiary of the BSE and NSE listed Vedanta Limited (formerly known as Sesa Sterlite Limited; ADRs listed on the NYSE), a part of London listed Vedanta Resources plc, a global diversified natural resources company.
Kenneth M. De Souza Rajesh Mohata
International Zinc Association Chief Marketing Officer, Hindustan Zinc
+9053858180 +912946604000
kdesouza@bell.net rajesh.mohata@vedanta.co.in
Disclaimer
This press release contains 'forward-looking statements' - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'should' or 'will.' Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.
|
distributed by
|
