The Hindu Business Line : EEPC opens Chicago display centre

THE Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), in a bid to provide a sound platform to its member-exporters to compete with their counterparts from other countries, has opened a India Engineering Centre (IEC) in Chicago, US.

The council, which plans to do Engineering Process Outsourcing (EPO) in a big way, will be setting up a second such centre in Johannesberg, South Africa, by end-June 2006. The US and EU markets account for 40 per cent of the country's engineering exports.

Set up under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, the centre will have a showroom facility for display of product samples, a warehousing facility for storing the goods and a distribution centre.

Located at Mount Prospect, close to the international airport, the IEC was formally thrown open by Mr Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Minister, last week.

The display-cum-warehousing centre, set up at a cost of Rs 2.42 crore, will also provide marketing support to the participating firms, which may be able to invite prospective buyers for a first-hand look and interaction.

Addressing newspersons here today, Mr Rakesh Shah, Chairman, EEPC, said some 50 Indian firms, which includes Tata Motors, Kalyani Forge, El Forge Wings Automobile and Trinity India, have already booked space at the warehousing facility. He said it was expected to showcase more effectively the manufacturing skills and capabilities of a number of Indian engineering companies under one roof.

According to him, going by the current positive trends in engineering export growth, the council was confident that the current year's target would be scaled up to $18 billion from the projected $17.2 billion. This would be decided after a mid-term review session by the Board of Trade on October 14.

Mr Shah said in any case, engineering exports may register a much higher figure if some 150-odd HS Codes, now under the `others' category, are brought under engineering by the DGCI&S.

He said EEPC has also entered into an agreement with Schenker USA, a leading shipping company, for providing warehousing facility to IEC members. He informed that at a nominal cost, facilities of Schenker would be used not only for storing goods, but also as a distribution centre for supplier of goods as per instructions of participating companies. Some 40 per cent of the space at IEC will be reserved for SSI exporters who find it difficult to access the US market. Mr Shah said they could avail themselves of the facility by paying just Rs 6,500 rent every month. Non-SSI units will have to pay Rs 8,000 as monthly rent, and initially every company will have to pay a one-time membership refundable deposit of Rs 30,000.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page