National level conferences on refractories in India commenced in early 1970s and the first overseas participation in refractories conference in India was in the year 1978. Subsequently several international conferences were attempted and in 1993 a decision was taken in principle to organize biannual international conference on refractories. With the liberalization of the economic policy and coming into effect of the World Trade Organization in 1994, the industry felt the need for closer interaction with the global refractories community. The first India International Refractories Congress (or IREFCON) was held in 1994 and this has continued every alternate year except for a miss out in 2004 and 2020.
