Now Reading: India loses $180 bn a year to rust, 4.3% of GDP
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India loses $180 bn a year to rust, 4.3% of GDP
India loses an estimated $180 billion annually to corrosion, or 4.3% of its GDP, according to a report by Nomura Research Institute (NRI). This is above the global average loss of 3.4%…
India loses an estimated $180 billion annually to corrosion, or 4.3% of its GDP, according to a report by Nomura Research Institute (NRI). This is above the global average loss of 3.4% of GDP. The power generation and transmission sector is the worst hit, with corrosion losses at 10.1% of its sectoral GDP. Indian Railways alone loses $3 billion a year.
The report says adopting better corrosion management could save India nearly $63 billion annually and boost GDP by 1.5%. It urges treating corrosion as an economic policy issue, not just an engineering problem. Key recommendations include using lifecycle cost analysis for public projects, tightening BIS standards, and mandating better protection for steel-intensive sectors like telecom, transport and infrastructure.
Indian Opinion Analysis
India's infrastructure push under the National Infrastructure Pipeline and the Gati Shakti plan is creating more steel-intensive assets that are vulnerable to corrosion. The NRI report's $180 billion figure is a baseline, actual losses could rise as the government targets $5 trillion GDP in the near term. A shift to lifecycle costing would require rewriting tendering rules across ministries and state governments, which is a slow process. The next milestone to watch is whether the Bureau of Indian Standards incorporates exposure-based durability norms in its next revision cycle, possibly by early next year.
Source: outlookbusiness.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
