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AR Madhusudan, President and Local Division Manager, Drive Products, ABB India, outlines how locally manufactured, energy-efficient drives are reshaping India’s industrial future.

As India accelerates its shift toward smarter factories, greener operations and globally competitive manufacturing, energy-efficient motor-drive systems are emerging as a critical enabler. In this conversation, AR Madhusudan, President and Local Division Manager, Drive Products, ABB India, speaks about customised, connected and high-performance solutions.

ABB has expanded its local production of energy-efficient drives — how does this strengthen your role in India’s industrial transformation story?
India is witnessing a major industrial transformation. Across sectors, we are seeing rapid automation, digitalisation and a clear push toward sustainable, energy-efficient operations. ABB has been a crucial part of this journey for decades. ABB’s drives have ensured improved performance and energy savings in motor-driven systems where efficiency and reliability are essential.
However, the opportunity ahead is even larger as more industries sharpen their focus on operational and energy efficiency. Industrial progress today is no longer just about output; it’s about smarter, cleaner and more efficient growth. Our recently expanded drives production line strengthens our position to support this.
With this expansion, we are not only increasing our local production capacity but also ensuring that our solutions are delivered to industries faster and are customised based on the evolving needs of each industry, supporting this shift.
By building more of our portfolio in India, for India, we can tailor solutions to local needs, from harsh industrial environments to fast-scaling segments like data centres, water, cement and metals. This makes energy efficiency more accessible and accelerates the country’s broader digitalisation and sustainability objectives while supporting the country’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ programmes.

What makes the new Peenya production line a benchmark in innovation and manufacturing excellence?
ABB’s drives factory in Peenya, Bengaluru has long embodied the highest standards of manufacturing, delivering solutions with quality and reliability. The expansion and upgrade build on our rich legacy of two decades of drives production excellence in India.
The new line brings together advanced robotics and digital production-monitoring systems that enable the production of large batches with exceptional speed and precision, while giving us real-time visibility into every step of the operation. In line with Industry 4.0 standards, the line has also integrated sensor-based tools that guide and verify the accurate placement of components, ensuring every drive meets the highest levels of consistency and quality. To ensure safety and minimise manual handling, the line leverages robotics, streamlining the movement of assembled drives within the shopfloor.
ABB’s Peenya drives factory has evolved over the last two decades into a world-class, digitally advanced production hub. With the latest expansion, the facility reinforces our commitment to sustainable, high-efficiency drive production tailored to India’s fast-growing industrial needs.

How are ABB’s drives helping energy-intensive sectors like cement move toward lower emissions and higher efficiency?
Industries like metals, mining and cement are not only energy-intensive but also have extremely demanding environments. In the current industrial landscape, both higher efficiency and lower emissions are crucial. Systems in these industries often operate in high temperatures and dusty environments while managing heavy mechanical loads and long operating cycles. In such conditions, reliability isn’t optional; it directly impacts production continuity.
ABB’s industrial drives are engineered for heavy use in harsh environments. Typically, motors in a cement plant don’t need to run at full speed at all times. Drives essentially help control the speed of the motor-driven systems based on the actual process requirement, whether it is a fan, mill or conveyor. With this, industries can automatically reduce the energy consumed while ensuring improving the performance of the systems.

As India pushes toward net zero, what role will energy-efficient drives and motors play in decarbonizing heavy industries?
As part of India’s push for its net-zero targets, there is a sharp focus on decarbonising heavy industries like steel and cement. Energy efficiency is one of the most impactful levers here, and ABB’s drives and motors are already helping customers lower their energy consumption while keeping their operations running efficiently.
At the same time, as mentioned earlier, these industries demand solutions that can deliver reliability and high performance under tough operating conditions. This is exactly the sweet spot where ABB’s drives excel – combining energy efficiency with improved performance by allowing industrial systems to adapt their power consumption dynamically. It is a combination that heavy industries need today, and one ABB is well-positioned
to deliver.
Energy efficiency is no longer in the future; it is deeply embedded in India’s industrial strategy. Going forward, a wider adoption of variable frequency drives (VFDs) is going to be increasingly critical. As India’s industries scale up and decarbonise, the role of drives will become more strategic.

What key technological frontiers is ABB Motion focusing on to stay ahead in the sustainability and innovation curve?
From ABB Motion’s low-voltage drives perspective, we are consistently working towards making drives smarter, easier to use, and enabling more plug-and-play so our customers can leverage them for their specific and unique application needs. Our modern and advanced drives are well-connected, essentially meaning that they can send data to edge devices for local processing or to the cloud for advanced analytics, enabling remote diagnostics and improved visibility of operations.
With programmable logic controllers (PLCs) as part of our portfolio, motor-drive systems can be also paired with PLCs, which can actively monitor input signals from various sources, including drives. This data can then be used to make intelligent real-time decisions that can guide the actions of these drives. This results in more reliable, data-driven and cost-efficient operation of the application they control.
At the core of technological advancements are our people and partnerships. We recently also hosted the ABB Startup Challenge India 2025 to identify and co-create an AI-powered solution to advance smart drive technology.
Overall, we remain committed to delivering solutions that are smarter, more adaptive and are easy to integrate for our wide range of customers from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to industrial plants.

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FORNNAX Appoints Dieter Jerschl as Sales Partner for Central Europe

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FORNNAX TECHNOLOGY has appointed industry veteran Dieter Jerschl as its new sales partner in Germany to strengthen its presence across Central Europe. The partnership aims to accelerate the adoption of FORNNAX’s high-capacity, sustainable recycling solutions while building long-term regional capabilities.

FORNNAX TECHNOLOGY, one of the leading advanced recycling equipment manufacturers, has announced the appointment of a new sales partner in Germany as part of its strategic expansion into Central Europe. The company has entered into a collaborative agreement with Mr. Dieter Jerschl, a seasoned industry professional with over 20 years of experience in the shredding and recycling sector, to represent and promote FORNNAX’s solutions across key European markets.

Mr. Jerschl brings extensive expertise from his work with renowned companies such as BHS, Eldan, Vecoplan, and others. Over the course of his career, he has successfully led the deployment of both single machines and complete turnkey installations for a wide range of applications, including tyre recycling, cable recycling, municipal solid waste, e-waste, and industrial waste processing.

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Jerschl said,
“I’ve known FORNNAX for over a decade and have followed their growth closely. What attracted me to this collaboration is their state-of-the-art & high-capacity technology, it is powerful, sustainable, and economically viable. There is great potential to introduce FORNNAX’s innovative systems to more markets across Europe, and I am excited to be part of that journey.”

The partnership will primarily focus on Central Europe, including Germany, Austria, and neighbouring countries, with the flexibility to extend the geographical scope based on project requirements and mutual agreement. The collaboration is structured to evolve over time, with performance-driven expansion and ongoing strategic discussions with FORNNAX’s management. The immediate priority is to build a strong project pipeline and enhance FORNNAX’s brand presence across the region.

FORNNAX’s portfolio of high-performance shredding and pre-processing solutions is well aligned with Europe’s growing demand for sustainable and efficient waste treatment technologies. By partnering with Mr. Jerschl—who brings deep market insight and established industry relationships—FORNNAX aims to accelerate adoption of its solutions and participate in upcoming recycling projects across the region.

As part of the partnership, Mr. Jerschl will also deliver value-added services, including equipment installation, maintenance, and spare parts support through a dedicated technical team. This local service capability is expected to ensure faster project execution, minimise downtime, and enhance overall customer experience.

Commenting on the long-term vision, Mr. Jerschl added,
“We are committed to increasing market awareness and establishing new reference projects across the region. My goal is not only to generate business but to lay the foundation for long-term growth. Ideally, we aim to establish a dedicated FORNNAX legal entity or operational site in Germany over the next five to ten years.”

For FORNNAX, this partnership aligns closely with its global strategy of expanding into key markets through strong regional representation. The company believes that local partnerships are critical for navigating complex market dynamics and delivering solutions tailored to region-specific waste management challenges.

“We see tremendous potential in the Central European market,” said Mr. Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO of FORNNAX.
“Partnering with someone as experienced and well-established as Mr. Jerschl gives us a strong foothold and allows us to better serve our customers. This marks a major milestone in our efforts to promote reliable, efficient and future-ready recycling solutions globally,” he added.

This collaboration further strengthens FORNNAX’s commitment to environmental stewardship, innovation, and sustainable waste management, supporting the transition toward a greener and more circular future.

 

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Budget 2026–27 infra thrust and CCUS outlay to lift cement sector outlook

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Higher capex, city-led growth and CCUS funding improve demand visibility and decarbonisation prospects for cement

Mumbai

Cement manufacturers have welcomed the Union Budget 2026–27’s strong infrastructure thrust, with public capital expenditure increased to Rs 12.2 trillion, saying it reinforces infrastructure as the central engine of economic growth and strengthens medium-term prospects for the cement sector. In a statement, the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA) has welcomed the Union budget 2026-27 for reinforcing the ambitions for the nation’s growth balancing the aspirations of the people through inclusivity inspired by the vision of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, for a Viksit Bharat by 2047 and Atmanirbharta.

The budget underscores India’s steady economic trajectory over the past 12 years, marked by fiscal discipline, sustained growth and moderate inflation, and offers strong demand visibility for infrastructure linked sectors such as cement.

The Budget’s strong infrastructure push, with public capital expenditure rising from Rs 11.2 trillion in fiscal year 2025–26 to Rs 12.2 trillion in fiscal year 2026–27, recognises infrastructure as the primary anchor for economic growth creating positive prospects for the Indian cement industry and improving long term visibility for the cement sector. The emphasis on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with populations above 5 lakh and the creation of City Economic Regions (CERs) with an allocation of Rs 50 billion per CER over five years, should accelerate construction activity across housing, transport and urban services, supporting broad based cement consumption.

Logistics and connectivity measures announced in the budget are particularly significant for the cement industry. The announcement of new dedicated freight corridors, the operationalisation of 20 additional National Waterways over the next five years, the launch of the Coastal Cargo Promotion Scheme to raise the modal share of waterways and coastal shipping from 6 per cent to 12 per cent by 2047, and the development of ship repair ecosystems should enhance multimodal freight efficiency, reduce logistics costs and improve the sector’s carbon footprint. The announcement of seven high speed rail corridors as growth corridors can be expected to further stimulate regional development and construction demand.

Commenting on the budget, Parth Jindal, President, Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA), said, “As India advances towards a Viksit Bharat, the three kartavya articulated in the Union Budget provide a clear context for the Nation’s growth and aspirations, combining economic momentum with capacity building and inclusive progress. The Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA) appreciates the Union Budget 2026-27 for the continued emphasis on manufacturing competitiveness, urban development and infrastructure modernisation, supported by over 350 reforms spanning GST simplification, labour codes, quality control rationalisation and coordinated deregulation with States. These reforms, alongside the Budget’s focus on Youth Power and domestic manufacturing capacity under Atmanirbharta, stand to strengthen the investment environment for capital intensive sectors such as Cement. The Union Budget 2026-27 reflects the Government’s focus on infrastructure led development emerging as a structural pillar of India’s growth strategy.”

He added, “The Rs 200 billion CCUS outlay for various sectors, including Cement, fundamentally alters the decarbonisation landscape for India’s emissions intensive industries. CCUS is a significant enabler for large scale decarbonisation of industries such as Cement and this intervention directly addresses the technology and cost requirements of the Cement sector in context. The Cement Industry, fully aligned with the Government of India’s Net Zero commitment by 2070, views this support as critical to enabling the adoption and scale up of CCUS technologies while continuing to meet the Country’s long term infrastructure needs.”

Dr Raghavpat Singhania, Vice President, CMA, said, “The government’s sustained infrastructure push supports employment, regional development and stronger local supply chains. Cement manufacturing clusters act as economic anchors across regions, generating livelihoods in construction, logistics and allied sectors. The budget’s focus on inclusive growth, execution and system level enablers creates a supportive environment for responsible and efficient expansion offering opportunities for economic growth and lending momentum to the cement sector. The increase in public capex to Rs 12.2 trillion, the focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and the creation of City Economic Regions stand to strengthen the growth of the cement sector. We welcome the budget’s emphasis on tourism, cultural and social infrastructure, which should broaden construction activity across regions. Investments in tourism facilities, heritage and Buddhist circuits, regional connectivity in Purvodaya and North Eastern States, and the strengthening of emergency and trauma care infrastructure in district hospitals reinforce the cement sector’s role in enabling inclusive growth.”

CMA also noted the Government’s continued commitment to fiscal discipline, with the fiscal deficit estimated at 4.3 per cent of GDP in FY27, reinforcing macroeconomic stability and investor confidence.

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Steel: Shielded or Strengthened?

CW explores the impact of pro-steel policies on construction and infrastructure and identifies gaps that need to be addressed.

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Going forward, domestic steel mills are targeting capacity expansion
of nearly 40 per cent through till FY31, adding 80-85 mt, translating
into an investment pipeline of $ 45-50 billion. So, Jhunjhunwala points
out that continuing the safeguard duty will be vital to prevent a surge
in imports and protect domestic prices from external shocks. While in
FY26, the industry operating profit per tonne is expected to hold at
around $ 108, similar to last year, the industry’s earnings must
meaningfully improve from hereon to sustain large-scale investments.
Else, domestic mills could experience a significant spike in industry
leverage levels over the medium term, increasing their vulnerability to
external macroeconomic shocks.(~$ 60/tonne) over the past one month,
compressing the import parity discount to ~$ 23-25/tonne from previous
highs of ~$ 70-90/tonne, adds Jhunjhunwala. With this, he says, “the
industry can expect high resistance to further steel price increases.”

Domestic HRC prices have increased by ~Rs 5,000/tonne
“Aggressive
capacity additions (~15 mt commissioned in FY25, with 5 mt more by
FY26) have created a supply overhang, temporarily outpacing demand
growth of ~11-12 mt,” he says…

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