The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association’s flagship exhibition, IMTEX, took place in Bangalore this past January. The exhibition showcased technologies that are vital for moving the Indian manufacturing and machine tool industry forward in this transformative age. It was the 50th anniversary of the show and the corresponding golden jubilee activities made for an interesting event from both a technology and cultural standpoint.
The exhibition was quite successful, surpassing all previous exhibitor and attendee metrics. With more than a thousand exhibitors and 91,000 visitors, the show can boast about being one of the largest in our industry. Consistent with our mission of assisting our members with global market access, AMT hosted a USA Pavilion where more than a dozen AMT members exhibited.
The feedback from our exhibiting members was overwhelmingly favorable, which mirrors the positive trends in the India manufacturing sector. Everyone was impressed with the high quality of the visitors and resulting inquires, requests for quotes, and orders. Several members even signed multiple orders at the show. The post-show report from IMTMA stated that orders received at the show were up 46 percent from the 2017 show, and inquiries increased by 25 percent. Overall, the show provided AMT members with valuable market opportunities in diverse industry segments.
An International Seminar on Machining Technologies held a day prior to IMTEX attracted about 350 delegates. Tim Shinbara, AMT’s vice president of Technology, was the keynote speaker presenting “Transformative Technologies: The Impact to Machining, Services, and Business Models.” Not surprising, Tim received rave reviews!
The forecast for the India market continues to be strong, with high industrial investment and industrial production rates. Government policy changes in tax and other pertinent business areas have allowed India to improve their “Ease of Doing Business” index by 30 percent since 2016.
Some key industrial segments that present great opportunities for AMT members:
Defense industry capital investment is projected to be $250 billion in the next 10 years.
Aerospace investment in commercial aircraft is projected to be $290 billion over the next 20 years, as well as military aircraft investment of $150 billion over the next 15 years.
Automotive is forecasted to grow from 7–12 percent of the GDP in the next 10 years.
Road construction investment is projected to be $107 billion in the next five years.
India continues to be a high-growth market for the machine tool industry, and IMTEX was clear evidence of that. For further information on how AMT can help open the India market for your company, please reach out to Arun Mahajan at AMahajan@AMTonline.org.
