2015 Edition
When asked to compare the current event with the earlier edition, he said comparison is not a very fair thing to do because of space limitations. “As a country we have still not recognised the importance of industrial infrastructure, like exhibition space etc. If we have to grow into a manufacturing economy BIEC will have to double its floor capacity,” he said.
Despite IMTMA fully utilising its own space at BIEC, and also arranging temporary sheds the organisers have to cut the ration of supply. Therefore, it will have 900 odd exhibitors this time from 25 countries with 9 country pavilions. “We could have probably made the number to 1,000 with more machines displayed but there are internal constraints,” he said.
Is it possible to address this issue? Krishnan says this is a country problem. The exhibition space and construction is extremely capital intensive. For instance, creating 40,000 sqmt of exhibition infrastructure requires Rs 350 crore to Rs 400 crore and it can grow four-fold if the venue is in places like Mumbai. And there is no assistance from the government for creating these kinds of infrastructure. Since IMTMA’s vision is to promote the industry, it created its own exhibition centre, which has become inadequate now.
Rather than denying space for the exhibitors due to space constraints the organisers are making an equitable distribution to cover all. The vision of the event is to bring state-
of-the-art current manufacturing technologies, equipment, measuring devices, tooling and accessories to the country and showcase it to the larger users. Compared to the previous edition held 2 years ago, the current exhibition will have display of faster machines, better software options, and more automation. The audience can witness Indian machines with a much higher maturity level than in the previous show. “Every passing exhibition we see a significant jump in terms of technology and this time also visitors will not be disappointed—they will have nice takeaways in terms of connect with the manufacturers and connect with new technologies. I believe 2015 is very critical because the growth movement is just about to take-off. Manufacturing in the country is just priming now; probably in 6 months to 1 year it should take off. It’s the right time for people to look at state-of-theart technologies and plan for the future,” noted Krishnan.
