April 08, 2011 12:09 PM
From Manik Mehta
HANNOVER (Germany), April 8 (Bernama) -- India attaches "great significance" to Malaysia which has emerged as a "very important market" within the Asean region fo India's engineering products.
This assessment was given by a senior official of India's engineering export council in an interview with Bernama at the ongoing Hannover Industrial Fair where India, China, Taiwan and South Korea have large contingents of exhibitors running to more than a hundred each.
Malaysia has 16 exhibitors at the show which is rated as the world's most important showcase of a wide range of industrial products.
"Malaysia is an important market for Indian engineering goods which are characterised by a high level of sophistication.
"Malaysia, which has a good industrial base, also provides access to a large hinterland market, thanks to its well-developed infrastructure and a robust distribution network," said Bhaskar Sarkar, the additional executive director and secretary of EEPC India, the agency that promotes India's engineering goods exports.
After the slump year 2009 when demand fell because of domestic downturn in local markets, India's exports of engineering products dramatically surged to the Asean region, including Malaysia.
While Malaysia's imports of Indian engineering products in the 2009/10 fiscal amounted to US$985.63 million, India's exports of these products to Malaysia in the six-month period from April to October in the fiscal 2010/11 jumped to US$1.237 billion.
In fact, Malaysia became the largest importing nation within the Asean region of Indian engineering goods. Malaysia's imports surpassed that of Singapore (US$1.197 billion) and Indonesia (US$600.9 million) in the April-October 2010 period.
India's engineering goods currently showcased at the Hannover show include sub-contracting and industrial supplies, parts and components used in the energy sector for industrial production and other finished products.
Engineering goods exports alone amounted to US$57 billion annually, and include base products used for producing castings, forgings, industrial machinery, machine tools and automobile components.
According to Sarkar, the share of engineering goods in India's overall exports has increased from 20 to 25 per cent, with the United States as the biggest market, followed by the European Union and Asean region.
Sarkar spoke of the "highly successful" INDEE (Indian Engineering Exhibition) held in Kuala Lumpur in September 2008.
"It was a very good exhibition in Kuala Lumpur that materialised with the cooperation of local Malaysian trade promotion organisations, resulting in good back-to-back (B2B) contacts," he said, adding that the EEPC organised a number of delegation visits to several Asean countries, including Malaysia.
The INDEE series of exhibitions were held in other Asean countries as well.
A similar exhibition is to be held in Bangkok in June this year.
EEPC India also participated in the recent India-Asean Business Fair in New Delhi, in which the Mumbai-based Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) office spearheaded Asean's efforts to stage the event.
"The EEPC on its part had invited buyers from the Asean region, including Malaysia, to come to the fair. We helped in business match-making between Indian and Asean companies.
"EEPC India will be sending more delegations to the Asean region. The region is inherent with great opportunities for Indian engineering products," he added.
-- BERNAMA
