India loses over Rs. 12 lakh crore every year to corrosion-related damage. This is nearly 4.2 percent of the country’s GDP and with 90 percent of the industry relying on steel and over 25 to 33 percent of it lost to rust, it is high time, surface engineering must be recognized not merely as an industrial necessity, but as a national priority, said Dr U Kamachi Mudali, Chairman, CII Surface and Coating Expo 2025, Chairman, CII Corrosion Management Division and Vice Chancellor, Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), at the fifth edition of the Surface and Coating Expo (SCE2025) organized by Confederation of Indian Industry Southern Region (CII SR) yesterday.

“Surface protection is not just about preserving materials. It is about reducing carbon emissions, increasing lifecycle efficiency, and contributing to India’s sustainability goals. Every ton of steel lost to rust adds to our carbon burden. Surface technologies must evolve in sync with India’s ambitions to become a manufacturing powerhouse,” Dr Kamachi added in his inaugural address.

P Ravichandran, Deputy Chairman, CII Southern Region and President, Danfoss India, Danfoss Industries Pvt Ltd appreciated the transformation of the Expo into a global platform and remarked that Southern India alone contributes $1.3 trillion to the national GDP and aims to triple this in five years. “Events like this inspire us to reduce our $ 650 billion non-energy import bill and localise critical components of our manufacturing value chain,” he said.

AR Unnikrishnan, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council and Managing Director – Glass Group, Saint Gobain India Pvt Ltd called for stronger collaboration among academia, industry and technology developers. “We must collaborate, innovate and invest in building an ecosystem for surface and corrosion management in India. Self-reliance in these technologies is the next big step,” he said.