Focused buyers benefit from parts fair at Pragati Maidan

The Auto Expo Components Show turned out to a pure B2B event, which many players found helpful. Innovative products and new capabilities were on display. Brian de Souza reports.

The auto components fair at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi last fortnight saw 1,100 exhibitors participate, displaying a truly comprehensive portfolio of automotive products ranging from interior trim and engine parts to new technologies, brake lining and sealants. In many ways, the outward appearance indicated that nothing had changed in a significant way from the past. The much-talked about makeover of Pragati Maidan didn’t seem much in evidence.

For the first time, the event was held separately from the main OE show – moved 40km away to Greater Noida – and its duration was just four days as against the regular seven. This seems to have helped the event attract a more serious clientele given that vehicle and car enthusiasts did not throng the Pragati Maidan as they did in previous years. In particular, the previous edition saw crowds overwhelm the genuine buyer causing near chaos.

Most participants seemed to favour this new arrangement given that it reduced the pressure of crowds and so doing business was that much convenient. But there were some who didn’t think it was beneficial to be away from key customers. That explains why the Bosch Group decided to have a small display of its products and those of its JV with ZF – ZF Lenksysteme – on the sidelines of the Greater Noida event. Another notable exception was Continental.

The four-day fair, organised by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), saw 650 exhibitors (a total of 1,100 counting associate companies ) prominently displaying the Indian auto component sector’s technological advancements and innovations. Of note were seven country pavilions representing Germany, France, the USA, Canada, Japan, the UK and Taiwan, all of them looking to do business with Indian companies.

Having recorded a turnover of $ 39.7 billion (Rs 247,211crore), the Indian auto components industry is expected to grow to $ 115 billion (Rs 716,105 crore) by the year 2020 of which $ 85 billion would be contributed by its domestic turnover and $ 30 billion by its overseas business.

There were many small players as well as big, the latter comprising the Aurangabad-based Varroc Group, the Anand Group, Shriram Rings & Pistons, the Range Group, and the TVS Group whose pavilion included all its component players from Delphi-TVS to India Japan Lighting.

DEVELOPING A GLOBAL CONNECT

On the sidelines of the four-day event, ACMA in alliance with Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) held a session on ‘Business Opportunity with Canadian Automotive Industry’. It was attended by a delegation from APMA led by president Steve Rodgers and ACMA president Harish Lakshman, representing the Indian delegation.

Both the associations led this session with a mission for Canadian companies to explore the potential opportunities, collaborations and partnerships with India. Currently, ACMA and member companies are working towards improving the overall competitiveness of the supply chain through the various tiers. Canada is part of a fully integrated North American market with annual sales of about 20 million vehicles and accounts for 16 percent of NAFTA production. APMA says the country has much to offer in alternative fuels and powertrains; electric vehicles and fuel cells; connected car and intelligent transportation; biomaterials, composites and light metals; and advanced safety systems. Canada’s exports to India have remained around $30 million from 2010 to 2012, which is why the two countries are looking to promote and grow each others’ export capabilities and technology transfer.  

The four-day Components Show was held alongside the Defence Expo which was also at Pragati Maidan. Some suppliers claimed weak mobile signals were due to the security aspect surrounding the DefExpo, as a result of which signals were jammed. Autocar Professional was not able to confirm this but a general complaint was of poor connectivity.