Event Report India: IMTEX 2017 - A Mega Success!

IMTMA's flagship event and one of the largest machine tool show ‘IMTEX 2017 & Tooltech 2017’ was reccently inaugurated by Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramai in Bengaluru.

The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ (IMTMA) flagship event and South East Asia’s largest exhibition on metal cutting technologies ‘IMTEX 2017 & Tooltech 2017’ was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah on January 26, 2017 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) in Bengaluru.

Secretary (HI), Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Government of India, Girish Shankar; I.A.S., Additional Chief Secretary, Commerce & Industries Department, Government of Karnataka, DV Prasad; and President, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Dr. Naushad Forbes were the chief guests at the event. In addition to this, Chairman - Exhibitions, IMTMA, Jamshyd N. Godrej; President, IMTMA, PG Jadeja; Vice President, IMTMA, P Ramadas; and Director General, IMTMA, V Anbu were also present for the inauguration.

Twenty countries and numerous technologies

The exhibition was held from January 26 - February 1, 2017 and a new 17,500 sq m Exhibition Hall (Hall 4) was inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The exhibition comprised over 1000 exhibitors in 6 halls covering an exhibition area of around 66,000 sq m. Twenty-two countries including India participated in the show with 7 group participations from China, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Spain, Taiwan and United States. Numerous technologies such as Hybrid machines, 3D printing, Industry 4.0, and many more innovative technologies were being launched and displayed at this edition of IMTEX. Numerous decision makers and business heads from across the spectrum of the Indian metalworking industry attended the show.

India as a world class hub for capital goods

Inaugurating the exhibition, Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah said, “It is well known that machine tools are the backbone of manufacturing and a strong machine tool industry propels strong manufacturing which in turn spurs the economy. Karnataka was the cradle for the machine tool industry which has now grown to produce over 50 per cent of the Indian machine tool output. Keeping this in view the government along with the industry charted out a plan for developing a machine tool park in the state”. Further commenting on developing a proposed machine tool park the Chief Minister said, “The proposed machine tool park at Vasantha Narsapur in Tumkur district is a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka and will come up in a land of 500 acres. Once functional, the park is expected to boost the domestic turnover of machine tools while saving foreign exchange and reducing imports. Furthermore, the park will also create over 4000 jobs in manufacturing and administrative fields.”

Speaking on Indian Capital Goods Policy and its impact on the Make in India initiative, DHI Secretary, Girish Shankar said, “India’s Capital Goods Policy envisages the capital goods to grow from Rs.2.3 lakh crore to Rs. 7.5 lakh crore in 2025. The policy has been formulated with a vision to increase the share of capital goods contribution to the GDP from 12 per cent to 20 per cent of total manufacturing activity by 2025. Our endeavour is to drive growth for capital goods sector and build India as a world class hub for capital goods. This covers critical areas such as increasing the total production, employment, domestic market share, exports, skill availability, technology depth, and SMEs. I am sure these initiatives will lead to strengthening the machine tool industry and Capital Goods industry. Further commenting on IMTEX 2017, Shankar said, “I am glad that IMTMA’s flagship event IMTEX supports demonstration of India’s capability in the machine tools segment on a massive scale and is a strong enabler of ‘Make in India’.”

Boon for the manufacturing industry

“IMTEX is not just for the machine tool manufacturers, but for the entire manufacturing industry of India. The exhibition has a potential to attract investment and provide growth opportunity for the industry in Karnataka. This can happen only when we promote our industries,” said Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, DV Prasad.

Prasad also further stated, “The Karnataka Government is working on enhancing industrial connectivity in the Chennai-Bengaluru and Bengaluru-Mumbai corridors. The State is supporting the National Investment Manufacturing Zones at key locations which is expected to give added impetus to the manufacturing sector and encouraged by the State’s efforts many auto and auto ancillary units have made their base in Karnataka.”

Speaking on IMTEX’s formidable stature in the Indian Machine Tools sector Chairman, Exhibitions – IMTMA, Jamshyd N. Godrej said, “Two years from now, we will be celebrating the 50th year of IMTEX. The main objective of IMTEX is to demonstrate and showcase different manufacturing technologies and innovations to enable the manufacturing companies and industries to take decisions on what they need to meet their current and future requirements.”

“As technology becomes a formidable enabler in manufacturing it is imminent to incorporate it in all aspects of manufacturing,” said President, CII, Dr. Naushad Forbes. “The machine tool sector has huge responsibility and scope to make Indian manufacturing successful and therefore the industry needs to leverage not only its design capabilities but also ICT, Automation, Industry 4.0, as well as innovation,” further added Dr. Forbes.

To further provide impetus to the machine tools industry IMTMA is working closely with NITI Aayog and DHI in giving shape to the future technological initiatives and R&D efforts for the machine tool industry.

Speaking on opportunities for machine tools sector President IMTMA, PG Jadeja said, “The aero-defence sector presents an attractive growth opportunity. To tap this IMTMA has launched an initiative and formed the Aero-Def Group to bring our members closer to this important customer segment and work out development and marketing strategies.”

The IMTMA-Premier Outstanding Entrepreneur Award in memory of Vinod Doshi was given in the inaugural function. Milind Kelkar and Mohini Kelkar from GrindMaster won the award.

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