The Hindu Business Line : EEPC to hold 12 reverse buyer-seller meets across 8 locations

At a glance
Depending on the choice of products and preferences of Indian exporters, meeting with the foreign counterparts will be fixed.
Each exporters will get a minimum of three meetings, each with a duration of 30 minutes.

Our Bureau

Kolkata, Jan. 20 The Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) will be holding 12 reverse buyer-seller meets (BSMs) across eight locations in the country for the benefit of SME exporters.

The first is scheduled to be held in Kolkata, followed by BSMs in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Jalandhar, Coimbatore, Pune and Bangalore. The meetings would be product-specific, and are expected to provide an opportunity to Indian exporters to gauge the acceptability of their products among foreign buyers, so that future strategies can be planned accordingly.

It’s ‘reverse’ because overseas buyers, numbering as many as 100, are being brought in to meet the sellers in India, and not the other way around, essentially to cut down on marketing costs for small exporters of engineering goods.

Platform

Addressing newspersons here on Sunday on the event, scheduled to begin from February 25 to March 6, Mr Rakesh Shah, Chairman of the Council, said this would provide a platform for exporters to build contacts with importers, buyers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers of engineering products from the US, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asean, Australia, New Zealand and CIS countries.

He said depending on the choice of products and preferences of Indian exporters, meeting with the foreign counterparts will be fixed. Each exporters will get a minimum of three meetings, each with a duration of 30 minutes. The final match-making will be done by the council keeping in mind the common areas of matching interest and choices thereof.

Mr Shah said this would be the first time that EEPC was organising so many BSMs at the same time in different locations. The event is tailored to benefit small and medium enterprises which find it difficult to participate in overseas promotional events on their own.

According to Mr R. Moitra, ED, EEPC, the schedule and locations of BSMs have been designed such that members from all regions get a chance to interact with international buyers.

Engg exports look up: Pointing out that the engineering sector has emerged as the largest contributor to the country’s total merchandise exports, Mr Shah informed that during the first seven months of April-October 2007, India has already exported engineering items worth $17.11 billion.

Engineering goods export during 2006-07 recorded a 33.8 per cent increase at $27.11 billion in 2006-07 against the $20.34 billion 2005-06.

He, however, admitted that volumes (especially for low-value items) have shown a downward trend, though valuations were looking up because of higher price realisations.

More Stories on : Exports & Imports | SSI | West Bengal

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