The buzz around the 9th edition of South Asia’s largest construction equipment trade show in Bangalore, Excon 2017 was almost palpable. There was excitement in the air as the CE sector has shown healthy growth trends in the last couple of years after a period of lull. In fact, in 2016-17 the CE sector grew by 32 per cent and is expected to touch $5 billion by FY 2019-20. The trade show lived up to the pre-event billing.
The 9th edition of Excon organized during December 12-16, upholding the theme ‘Smart Technology Fueling the Next Gen Infra’ with more than 1,000 exhibitors from over 20 countries, was in a way a testimony to the fact that the India growth story was still the one to watch out for globally.
The Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Mr. Anant G. Geete, set the ball rolling by pointing out to the sustained initiatives being taken by the Government for the development of infrastructure in the country. “We are happy to say that we have succeeded in formulating a Capital Goods policy for the first time. This will give the much-needed fillip to the infrastructure and construction sector which is already witnessing an upsurge. The sector needs to adopt latest technology, and I assure you that the Central Government is dedicated to offering 100 per cent support to all the stakeholders,” the Minister stated in his speech.
All the leading speakers at the inaugural session, including Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, Ms. Shobana Kamineni, CII President, Mr. Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII-Excon 2017, and Mr. Arvind Garg, ICEMA President, shared similar positive sentiments.
The premier CE trade show also witnessed the conduct of infrastructure related-conferences concurrently. A CEOs round table session was also organized which witnessed participation of leading global and Indian CEOs in the infrastructure and construction sectors. The session also witnessed the release of CII-ICEMA report on ‘Indian Construction Equipment Industry’. Components of Construction Equipment, Next Gen Infrastructure and Green Technologies and Trends were the other conferences that were held as part of the event.
The event witnessed over 300 new product launches. Just as in the case of earlier editions of the event, earthmoving equipment had the biggest presence. The spurt in the road construction sector in the recent past meant that a wide variety of road building equipment too made their mark. Among construction cranes, many new models of truck mounted, all-terrain and tower cranes were launched at the event.
The exhibition success can be gauged from the fact that it received 40,000 plus footfalls, with visitors drawn from across virtually every nook and corner of the world.
Excon 2017 has lived up to its expectations and once again set the benchmark higher for similar trade shows in the region.
By N. Balasubramanian, M.K. Prabhakar and Sarada Vishnubhatla