Coimbatore : Demand picking up for castings, the foundry sector in the country is expected to witness an annual growth of 13 to 14 per cent from the present 5-7 per cent, according to captains of the industry.

This would see production increasefrom 11.5 million tonnes to 14-15 million tonnes by 2021 and sector wanted to take it to 20 million tonnes by 2025, chairman of the local chapter of Institute of Indian Foundrymen G Ezhil said.

Giving details of 9th edition of two-day National Foundry Conclave being held here from November 16, Ezhil said demand for Indian foundry products was increasing due to its constituency and quality, taking it to be the second largest producer after China.

Apart from this, the huge opportunity from defence and railway and also automobile sectors would give boost to the demand, he said.

The sector had witnessed an investment of $500 million in the last two years both for expansion and modernisation, CII local chapter chairman M Ramesh said and more investment was likely focusing on Make in India, Ease of Doing Business and infrastructure and easing of FDI norms.

Conclave chairman R Saravanan said the biennial event would focus on best practices in the foundry industry and over 600 delegates from across the world were expected.

On the concluding day, three parallel sessions would focus on foundry practices on three different alloy group – iron, aluminium and steel castings.