The Silent Cost Of Corrosion
Corrosion doesn’t talk back. It doesn’t make the front pages the way a bridge collapse or a monsoon flood or a factory fire does. But it eats through steel, quietly, year after year.
In the end, that slow erosion adds up to a staggering number. Corrosion costs India ₹14 lakh crore annually, or 4.3 per cent of its GDP. Bridges, highways, railroads, ports, power infrastructure, buildings and industrial assets all age prematurely. This is from a Nomura report shared with the Economic Times.
Where the damage hurts most
The damage is not evenly distributed. The biggest hit is power generation and transmission. Telecommunications, automotive, infrastructure and railways are close behind.
This is not a random pattern. Indeed, it feels like a map of where India has underinvested in protection. The report says India’s high corrosion susceptibility and above-average cost of corrosion point to a growing macroeconomic risk. It also warns that GDP will suffer a big hit in the coming years.
But there is also a flip side to that warning. Good corrosion protection could add up to 1.5 per cent to GDP. On a spreadsheet it might be a rounding error. In fact, it is large enough to change whole budgets.
Absence of Indian Standards
It is not that simple, but the mechanism behind it is. Corrosion increases public spending for maintenance and replacement costs. It also reduces the productivity of national assets, puts pressure on government finances and compromises public safety and sustainability.
It’s done differently in other countries. For instance, the US and Japan categorise infrastructure according to environmental exposure. They then specify the type of corrosion protection for each category. Steel is treated differently in a dry inland climate than it is in a coastal one.
India, on the other hand, generally follows common specifications. These specifications apply regardless of the location or exposure of an asset. This becomes especially expensive in the monsoon. And the wet and salty environment causes decay at a rate far exceeding any standard generic.
The real gap isn’t ambition. It’s specificity. But as per Bureau of Indian Standards norms, corrosion protection is mandatory. They also provide acceptable methods such as inhibitors and coatings. But they do not say which technique is suitable for which condition, be it zinc coating, epoxy coating, hot-dip galvanisation or weathering steel.
That gives contractors little reason to do anything more than the bare minimum. That shortcut takes a toll on roads and bridges. This is especially the case for water, pollution and heavy load-prone sections with high traffic. It’s in these situations that cutting corners costs lives, not just budgets.
The Fix No One Wants to Fund
The report’s recommendation is almost too simple. “India needs mandatory corrosion protection, better enforcement and greater awareness. It also needs to align its standards to the global benchmarks. “Aligning Indian standards to global benchmarks is critical to ensure best practices are followed for greater durability of long-term assets in India,” the report said.
This does not require new technology or a moonshot investment: It just takes the discipline to define (and enforce) what’s already there. India’s infrastructure ambitions are of no concern to Rust. It is already getting its 4.3 per cent anyway.
