India is the world's most populous country with over 1.4 bn inhabitants and the fastest growing major economy. In 2023, the country’s GDP growth rate was 7.8%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects India to become the world’s third largest economy behind the USA and China by 2027. These facts lead to the conclusion that India is also a huge market for wires and cables, which are needed for the transmission of electricity and electronic data, for wire products such as fasteners, springs, and ropes, which are needed for the handling of mechanical forces, and for tubes and pipes, which are needed for the transit of liquids, gases and free-flowing substances or as mechanical structures. The market is therefore currently looking eagerly towards India, where the two top regional events wire and Tube India will take place in Mumbai from November 27 to 29, 2024.
Wires and cables
The market research company Fortune Business Insights values the size of India’s wires and cables market at US$8.7 bn in 2023 and expects a growth from US$9.3 bn in 2024 to more than US$17 bn by 2032 at an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.9% during this period. Many applications of wires and cables are related to the generation, transmission, distribution and use of electricity. India, the world’s third-largest producer and consumer of electricity, consumed 1392 TWh of electricity in 2022. The Indian business newspaper Economic Times reported in September 2024 that the demand could increase to 3,000 TWh by 2030. A leading driver of electricity demand is the country’s rapidly growing economy. The manufacturing and the service sectors are the largest electricity consumers, followed by the residential sector, which is characterized by a housing market boom.
As the market research and consulting company CRU found out, India had an installed power generation capacity of 517 GW in 2023, which is projected to rise to 781 GW by 2028. The country’s renewable energy ambitions are to generate 500 GW of energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind power by 2030. This endeavour is projected to require investments of more than US$30 bn.
The increasing capacity of decentralised power plants which exploit renewable energy sources is driving the expansion of transmission networks. The Indian Central Electricity Authority announced in February 2024 that the total transmission line length at 220 kV and above levels stands at 482,032 circuit km (ckm). For addition in the 2022-23 to 2026-27 period, a total of 123,577 ckm of lines have been targeted.