IRMA Role and Services
The main function of IRMA is to work for the healthy growth of the refractory industry in India. A wide range of insulating and other qualities of refractories capable of withstanding high temperature erosion/corrosion in various furnaces and kilns used in the steel, cement, non-ferrous metals and other such industries is manufactured by the Indian refractories industry.
The principal services of the IRMA are - providing trade information, representing to the authorities on issues of common concern to members, extending advisory services to the members on imports/ export policy, legal aspects relating to taxes and duties, preparation of background notes and reports, publication of the quarterly IRMA Journal, organising seminars and conferences on technical and management aspects and so on.
 The members are encouraged in quality management, energy conservation, exports, HRD and so on.

Representing on common problems
The principal matters of common concern, such as availability and quality of raw materials, customs duties, central excise, technical issues of specifications, refractory quality and testing, operating parameters, and so on are taken up with the Government and other agencies.

Advisory Services
Initial advice is given to members on import-export policies, tax matters, pollution control rules and regulations, and so on. It has also taken up on behalf of members a number of legal and quasi-legal matters of general concern.

Preparing notes/reports
From time to time reports and notes are prepared on issues of concern to the members of the IRMA, such as on exports, refractory production in selected overseas countries, technical matters, raw material sourcing, etc.

Publications
IRMA has a regular quarterly Journal. This covers a number of topical subjects (including members' activities), technical articles, statistics, etc. IRMA also issues a monthly Newsletter for members. The Association publishes every alternate year a Directory of Members. The Directory provides company-wise data. The IRMA also publishes transactions of seminars, and technical proceedings.

Organising seminars and short courses
IRMA regularly organises seminars and workshops, short courses, etc. on application engineering of refractories for Basic Oxygen Furnaces and steel ladles, monolithics, pollution control, TQM, and so on. It organised the 5th India International Refractory Congress (IREFCON 2002) in Bhubaneswar in February 2002, which attracted nearly 280 delegates including over 50 from overseas.

Meetings and Delegations
IRMA arranges meeting with various agencies such as for pollution control, R&D, main consuming industries, important raw material suppliers as well as government authorities It has also successfully organised technical delegations of members to UNITECR (Unified International Technical Conferences on Refractories) in Japan and USA and separately to Japan, Germany, UK, and also to Russia. Recently  a delegation from the IRMA visited Southeast Asia.

Data Bank Services
The IRMA Data Bank is a large repository of data on the refractories industry in India, product range,  production trends, imports, exports, information on consuming industries like steel, cement, and so on.  The Association furnishes reports or abstracts from the  Data Bank  to members and non-members against payment of prescribed charges.

Expert Technical Services
The Association has recently constituted a panel of technical experts, each highly experienced and well established in his field to provide a range of services concerning preventive maintenance, energy conservation, pollution control, product up-gradation and troubleshooting and so on. The Association has received details of specialisations and work experience of some specialists, viz. 1) Mr. B.V. Apparao, 2) Dr. G. Banerjee,  3) Dr. A.K. Bose, 4) Mr. T.P. Chakraborty, 5) Mr. B.N. Ghosh,  6) Mr. R.K. Kar, 7) Dr. T.V. Prasad, 8) Dr. B.N. Samaddar, 9) Mr. Amrik Singh. For further details please contact the Association by fax or e-mail.