Get Al-enabled, add value to metal music

Coca-Cola has announced India IPO plans for its largest bottler. But disappearing Diet Coke cans from local shelves is turning out to be a summer of discontent for homegrown sodawalas. Nobody imagined the ongoing US war on Iran would take the fizz out of supplies of the base metal worldwide, after 9% of global production capacity in West Asia - 75% of which is exported - would suspend operations and cancel contracts, buffeted by suspension of shipping traffic.

The global supply squeeze should act as an eye-opener for Indian policymakers and industry to urgently shift focus from legacy dig-and-melt strategy that overemphasised mining and smelting, towards creation of world-class engineering capacity that can fabricate products and components. Lightweight, ductile, corrosion-free, cheap and abundant, aluminium is the metal of the future. It's also everywhere - EVs, batteries, electronics, deodorants, solar panels, smartphones, semiconductors, heartburn pills, packaging material....

As an electrical metal for switchgears, cables and transformers, it's even more significant for energy transition. But with slow buildout of grids worldwide, clearing backlog depends on access to it. Soaring 4-yr-high prices of aluminium means a windfall for Hindalco or Vedanta, which has ramped up smelter capacity. But unless India turbocharges initiatives to convert aluminium into high-value downstream products, it will be left behind. This is symptomatic of our manufacturing malaise. Policy support through PLIs and localisation needs to streamline further, as do export incentives. Industry, too, must catch up and consolidate a fragmented ecosystem or build capacity itself. If we want to be an electro state, the demand inflection point is staring in our face.