The Indian textile engineering industry is realising the importance of participating in trade fairs, and has increasingly begun doing so, at least in the major shows. This is evident from the number of participants in the successive ITMA shows.

Even this year the Indian participation has gone up to around 80 companies. This is despite the general feeling in the user industry globally that there may not be many new products on display, as most of it had already been shown during India-ITME 2004 in December. However, all major Indian companies will showcase their products, realising that such shows are not just about getting orders, but about getting noticed, and about making a presence. And while there is a significant improvement in fairs like ITMA and ITME, a similar trend is observed in the other regional shows held in various parts of the world. And Indian companies have begun allocating funds for trade fairs. Moreover, the industry is focussing on exports to cushion itself against any recessionary trend that may set in in the future. This further makes participation in such fairs imperative. However, just participating in fairs is not enough. Other marketing efforts are also required, such as reliable quality and delivery, after sales service, etc. These are also areas that the industry needs to work on. Overall, I would say the TEI is well aware of what steps need to be taken to penetrate the global market.

Indian companies participating in machinery trade fairs can learn about the latest technologies in the market, how these could benefit the textile industry especially in its export effort; they can learn about what their competitors are doing; about which items have potential in the Indian market, and accordingly try and enter into collaborations with the manufacturers and suppliers; learn about the newer markets that can be explored, and also about which industries in the world are investing in modernisation, reequipment, and target them. The Indian companies realise these advantages and have made the most of the trade fairs they have participated in. Besides this, the industry also realises that it needs technology collaborations for moving into segments such as weaving and processing. This is a good platform to meet the right people.

It is for this reason that we are planning to have a big participation in CITME, China next year. We believe there is potential to have some kind of collaboration with the Chinese industry, and this fair will offer a good opportunity to interact with them. Pakistan is another very good market for Indian machines, and we have been exporting to Pakistan indirectly. We hope a decision is taken soon to free textile machinery from import restrictions, as this would lead to a huge export surge for the Indian industry. We are considering participating in a fair in Pakistan next year too.