EEPC event to showcase India as manufacturing, tech hub

Trade and investment promotion council EEPC India has been actively working on creating the right ecosystem in the area of Industry 4.0 for the benefit of SMEs, said the council’s Senior Vice-Chairman Mahesh K Desai.

“At EEPC we have been working on Industry 4.0 for last two years. Industry 4.0 is our top most agenda and we have been working on helping the SMEs to equip themselves and overcome the challenges in terms of technology upgradation. Simultaneously, we are also focussing on skill development in order to have the right ecosystem,” he said while announcing the details about the 8th edition of EEPC India’s International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS).

IESS will be held in Chennai during March 14-16 with the theme – Smart Engineering – to showcase India as a global hub for manufacturing and technology.

This time Malaysia is participating in a big way as a partner country and is keen on working with India to take Indian expertise in Industry 4.0 for adoption in its country.

Malaysia is looking for a value generation of about $50 million from IESS 2019 and has identified two core areas for long term sustainable interest – automobile and auto components and ICT part of India where Malaysia feels India could be a big brother in teaching the new technologies, said Sooraj Dhawan of Falcon Capital Advisors, which is advising MARii (Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute).

C H Nadiger, Regional Director, EEPC India, explained that the primary objective of the IESS is to reduce dependence on traditional markets in exports. “About 72 per cent of our exports are accounted by just 25 countries in the world. We want to expand our export base. Of course, we are providing a platform for Indian engineering industry to target the domestic market also as a derisking strategy,” he added.

Elaborating on the outcomes of IESS, he said the interaction and the follow-up deals could result in business traction worth ₹500-600 crore in the following couple of years.

IESS 2019 will have about 400 exhibitors, of which 130 will be from Tamil Nadu. Five countries – Malaysia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ukraine and Czech Republic — will be partner countries. More than 400 overseas delegates are expected to participate in the event.