Busworld has established itself as the most preferred B2B trade fair for the bus and coach industry worldwide. While the mother show at Kortrijk continues to grow leaps and bounds in terms of exhibitor and visitor count, the Indian edition of Busworld will take a new look from next year.
We spoke to Mr. Didier H.C. Ramoudt, President, Busworld International, to find out the exhibition company’s plans to establish a firm footing in the Indian market.
Excerpts:
We understand that Busworld India will be held at Bengaluru next year. How is the show shaping up and what are your plans?
We have changed our strategy in India by moving from Mumbai to Bengaluru. We have also changed the timing of the show to November, which is an important move. We worked in a very democratic way by asking all the exhibitors who were part of Busworld Mumbai this year as to what would be the best time for them for Busworld India. I think we have found the right place and the right dates for the show. Also, the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) has modern halls which are of added value for the exhibitors.
Globalization is on in the bus and coach industry. This makes us alert that we have to get as many global players as possible in our show, and I think we will be successful in doing so in Bengaluru. We would also like to get the big names in the Indian market to participate and are looking with a good eye to convince them to join our show.
We are a B2B exposition and operate in a professional manner in a very small niche, and so all the visitors in our show are potential buyers, which is exactly what exhibitors want. Busworld offers a very good opportunity for companies to show their products to visitors who are very keen on buying.
Would you look at partnering anyone in India to make Busworld India more successful next year?
We are challenging ourselves by looking at new opportunities around the world and will start in Central Asia, South-East Asia and Latin America soon. We grow through partnerships and want to involve the industry in our organization, not by giving priority to anyone but only to let them know that we are open for any kind of co-operation between us and stakeholders in the automotive business.
In India, we would not mind having talks with professional organizations like SIAM. We are not a B2C fair and are not open to general public visitors. SIAM would be a very interesting partner for us and we can work on a win-win situation by partnering them. The exchange of ideas can only fortify our goal of helping the end-users of the bus and coach industry have a safe and comfortable transport, which is environmentally sustainable. Such partnerships are very important for us as I always believe in shaking hands as an agreement and to keep the hands together, which is equally important.
Apart from the exhibition, how could Busworld contribute to the developments in the Indian bus industry?
Through the Busworld International we have created the Busworld Academy through which we organize conferences, seminars and discussions where interested people from the industry can participate and debate on new technology, rules of the road, etc. We work with bodies like the International Road Union (IRU) and others globally as part of our efforts to bring out the latest developments in the industry. At the same time, we also involve the authorities because we can have very good innovations. But if the authorities do not allow them to be implemented on road, the innovations become worthless. So the authorities are an important player as well for us.