The Hindu Business Line : Hannover Messe to hold 3 fairs in Bangalore

These include fairs on industrial process automation (Industrial Automation India), power transmission (Motion Drive and Automation India) and information communication technology (CeMAT India).

Earlier this year, the German trade fair organiser tied-up with the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA) to market a new trade fair venue at Bangalore called Bangalore International Exhibition Centre. The centre, currently under construction, will host the three fairs.

"Depending on the response to these fairs, we may organise more fairs with different themes in Bangalore," said Mr Wolfgang Pech, Senior Vice-President, Deutsche Messe, the parent company of Hannover Messe.

He said many German companies were looking at moving their operations from China to India and the Bangalore fairs would be an opportunity to study the Indian market.

"Initially, European countries would like to explore the automation, mechanical engineering and information technology industry in India. In future, if they are interested in other industries, we would organise fairs for the same," said Mr Pech.

Mr T.R. Gopalan, Regional Director, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, added that in the last two months four German delegations, including an 80-member strong delegation, had visited India for opportunities in outsourcing engineering processes.

New themes

The chamber organised a briefing on the upcoming Hannover Messe and Mr Pech introduced the 13 industrial exhibitions that would comprise the biennial fair. The five-day fair starting April 16, 2007 would include themes like industrial automation, power transmission and control, energy technology, subcontracting and services.

New themes at the fair include hygienic design with focus on food processing and pharmaceutical industry (under the automation processes section), robotics, condition monitoring systems and facility management (focusing on outsourcing secondary operations in a company).

At least 6,000 exhibitors are expected to occupy over 2 lakh sq m at the fair. About 150 Indian companies are expected to occupy about 3,000 sq m at Hanover Messe.

They would represent sectors such as sub-contracting (casting, forging and materials processing), energy (generation, distribution and control), and automation, according to Mr S.J. Patil, Indian Representative of Deutsche Messe.