Energy per Tonne in Indian Forging and Foundry Clusters: The BEE Numbers
How much energy does an Indian forging or foundry unit use per tonne? Per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency's 2021 energy mapping, average forging units use 117 kgoe per tonne in Chennai and 209 in Pune and Ludhiana. Foundries run 96–113 kgoe per tonne in most clusters, and 162 in Shimoga, where castings are more heavily machined.
Last checked: 20 Oct 2026
By the Mama Editorial Team. All figures come from Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) reports; ₹ figures are labelled assumptions.
Verified against
- BEE, Forging Sector Energy Mapping – National Report, November 2021, study by PwC for BEE (energy studies in 50 forging units, surveys in 160)
- BEE, Foundry Sector Energy Mapping – National Report, October 2021, study by PwC for BEE
- TERI for SIDBI (WB-GEF-SIDBI project), Cluster Profile Report: Pune Forging Cluster and Kolhapur Foundry Industry, 2012
- BEE, ADEETIE scheme page, read 20 Oct 2026
- The original beeindia.gov.in links to both mapping reports now redirect to the BEE home page (checked 20 Oct 2026), so the links above point to Internet Archive copies of the same files.
- Checked 20 Oct 2026.
Energy per tonne by cluster
"kgoe" means kilograms of oil equivalent, which puts electricity, coke, oil and gas into one unit. All rows are cluster averages from BEE's audits. The full rows are in the CSV download.
| Sector | Cluster | Average energy (kgoe/tonne of final product) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forging | Chennai | 117 | BEE forging report, Fig. 8 |
| Forging | Bangalore | 137 | same |
| Forging | Rajkot | 148 | same |
| Forging | Delhi-NCR | 162 | same |
| Forging | Ludhiana | 209 | same |
| Forging | Pune | 209 | same |
| Foundry | Jaipur, Belgaum | 96 | BEE foundry report, Fig. 10 |
| Foundry | Batala | 97 | same |
| Foundry | Coimbatore | 98 | same |
| Foundry | Agra, Kolhapur | 99 | same |
| Foundry | Rajkot, Ahmedabad | 110 | same |
| Foundry | Howrah | 113 | same |
| Foundry | Shimoga | 162 | same |
Across India's forging sector, BEE puts the FY 2021-22 average at 171 kgoe per tonne. It sets a target of 130 by FY 2030-31 if units adopt efficiency measures and modern equipment (forging report, Table 18). For foundries the sector figure is 119 kgoe per tonne, with a target of 93 by FY 2030-31 (foundry report, Table 25).
Furnace-level bands: where your number should sit
Most of the energy goes into heating the metal. In forging, metal heating takes 47–64% of a unit's energy (forging report, p. 22). In foundries, melting and core making take 80–95% (foundry report, p. 23).
| Equipment | Cluster spread, min / median / max | BEE "best" target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Induction billet heater, forging (kWh/t) | Delhi-NCR 375 / 394 / 435; Bangalore 375 / 401 / 521; Pune 404 / 438 / 497; Ludhiana 423 / 466 / 535; Chennai 337 / 543 / 695 | 330 | Forging report, Fig. 10, Table 10 |
| Oil/gas forging furnace (kgoe/t) | Bangalore 100 / 132 / 141; Chennai 128 / 135 / 250; Delhi-NCR 126 / 156 / 171; Pune 70 / 185 / 317; Ludhiana 105 / 110 / 303 | 70 (heat-treatment furnace) | Forging report, Fig. 9, Table 10 |
| Induction melting, foundry (kWh/t molten metal) | Rajkot 584 / 700 / 787; Agra 627 / 656 / 846; Shimoga 608 / 749 / 847; Howrah 608 / 798 / 907 | CI 509, SGI 575, steel 608 | Foundry report, Fig. 12, Table 14 |
| Cupola, foundry (kg coke/t metal) | Rajkot 110 / 115 / 124; Batala 72 / 130 / 169; Howrah 91 / 142 / 192 | coke:metal 1:10 (DBC 1:14) | Foundry report, Fig. 11, Table 14 |
For cast iron melted in induction furnaces, the foundry report puts India's best units at about 584 kWh per tonne and the Indian average at about 681. The best units in the EU and USA run at about 500 (foundry report, p. 31).
Where clusters differ, and why the number misleads
- Product mix moves the figure more than efficiency does. Shimoga has the highest foundry figure even though every unit there uses induction melting. BEE puts this down to steel and alloy castings and heavy machining (foundry report, p. 27).
- Within a cluster, the gap between units is larger than the gap between clusters. Pune oil-fired forging furnaces range from 70 to 317 kgoe per tonne (forging report, Fig. 9).
- Billet size matters. BEE found that units heating small billets in oversized induction coils had higher energy per tonne (forging report, p. 24).
- Old induction power supplies. About 60% of foundry units use older SCR-based induction furnaces, which use much more energy per tonne than modern IGBT units (foundry report, p. 35).
Top measures and their payback
| Measure | Energy saved | Payback | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oil-fired box furnace replaced by induction billet heater (Pune unit, 930 t/yr) | 72% of furnace energy | 19 months | Forging report p. 86 (BEE-WB-GEF-SIDBI case) |
| Automated fuel feeding on oil-fired heat-treatment furnaces (Pune unit, 1,248 t/yr) | 29% | under 6 months | Forging report p. 88 |
| Furnace oil to natural gas, three heat-treatment furnaces (Pune unit, 1,000 t/yr) | 12% | 21 months | Forging report p. 87 |
| SCR-based induction melting furnace replaced by IGBT (foundry unit, 430 t/yr capacity) | 86,400 kWh/yr | 25 months | Foundry report p. 94 |
| New low-friction compressed-air piping (Belgaum, BEE-UNIDO programme) | 20% of compressed-air energy | 15 months | Foundry report p. 106 |
| Divided blast cupola instead of conventional cupola | 10–25% | 6–18 months (BEE average) | Foundry report p. 99 |
What a gap to the benchmark costs, in ₹
Assume a forging unit shipping 300 tonnes a month (3,600 tonnes a year), heating billets in induction at 440 kWh per tonne, close to the Pune median of 438. Assume an all-in power cost of ₹8 per kWh. Your own HT bill gives the real figure.
| Line | Value |
|---|---|
| Gap to BEE's 330 kWh/t target | 110 kWh/t |
| Extra units per year (110 × 3,600) | 3,96,000 kWh |
| Extra cost per year at an assumed ₹8/kWh | about ₹31.7 lakh |
| Foundry example: 6,000 t/yr of cast iron melted at the Indian average of 681 instead of the best Indian 584 kWh/t (97 kWh/t × 6,000) | 5,82,000 kWh, about ₹46.6 lakh at the same assumed ₹8/kWh |
Run your own numbers in the energy-per-unit calculator. For how the bill adds up, see demand charges and power factor on an HT bill.
Money: ADEETIE (FY 2025-26 to FY 2027-28)
BEE's scheme page lists Forging and Foundry among the 14 eligible sectors, across 60 industrial clusters (read 20 Oct 2026). What it offers:
- Interest subvention. Micro and small units get 5%, medium units 3%, with a net interest floor of 2%. Loans of ₹10 lakh to ₹15 crore qualify, and up to 75% of the project cost can be debt-funded.
- Audit refund. The cost of an investment-grade energy audit and a detailed project report (DPR) is refunded on actuals: up to ₹1 lakh for medium units and ₹75,000 for micro and small units.
- Condition. The project must save at least 10% of energy, and keep that saving, to receive the annual subvention.
The scheme page does not name the 60 clusters (checked 20 Oct 2026). Ask BEE's ADEETIE helpdesk whether your area is covered. For other state and central schemes, see government support for auto-component units in 2026.
What breaks the comparison in a real plant
- Tonnes are not counted the same way. BEE's forging figures are per tonne of final product, while the furnace figures are per tonne of molten or heated metal. Kolhapur's 2012 cluster profile (TERI for SIDBI) quoted 1,000–1,200 kWh per tonne of good castings for an induction-based unit, with 600–700 of that spent on melting.
- Holding and idle time. A furnace kept hot while the press or moulding line waits uses energy without adding tonnes. BEE's best-practice list includes cutting charging, holding and pouring time (foundry report, Table 14).
- Units that are not comparable. Furnace figures are given in kWh per tonne, while whole-plant figures are in kgoe per tonne. Do not compare a kWh figure with a kgoe figure.
What to ask the energy auditor
Ask for energy per tonne for each furnace, measured against the BEE band for your cluster. Ask for the payback of each measure, priced at your own tariff. Ask whether the DPR is in the format ADEETIE accepts. For how payback of measures compares in US Department of Energy audits of auto-parts plants, see the DOE audit data. For the wider cost picture (scrap, sorting, tooling and energy), see the auto-component cost guide.
Where Mama fits
Mama reads a plant's existing cameras and tells the owner where machine hours were lost: for example, a furnace holding hot metal for 40 minutes while the press was stopped. That is the idle time that pushes energy per tonne up. Mama does not meter energy. Leave an email or phone in the form below
FAQ
What is the energy consumption per tonne of forging in India? BEE's 2021 national report puts the sector average at 171 kgoe per tonne for FY 2021-22, with cluster averages from 117 (Chennai) to 209 (Pune, Ludhiana). For induction billet heating alone, cluster medians run from 394 to 543 kWh per tonne, and BEE's best-practice target is 330.
How many units of electricity does an induction furnace need to melt a ton of iron? For cast iron in Indian foundries, the BEE foundry report gives about 584 kWh per tonne of molten metal for the best units and about 681 on average. Its best-practice target is 509. SGI and steel need more energy per tonne.
What is the ADEETIE scheme? ADEETIE is a Ministry of Power scheme run by BEE from FY 2025-26 to FY 2027-28. It offers a 5% interest subvention (3% for medium units) on energy-efficiency loans, and refunds up to ₹1 lakh of audit and DPR cost. It covers 14 sectors, including forging and foundry.