ES. Please share with us the glorious journey of EEPC India and over the years, what major milestones have it achieved?
Arun Kumar. EEPC India has been the Face of Indian Engineering exports and is regarded as the MODEL EPC in India by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and caters to the Indian engineering sector. It has many firsts to its credit. The First Indian EPC to have a website, to be ISO certified, to have an in house Technology Centres and also to e-catalogue the product profiles. As an advisory body it actively contributes in the policies of Government of India and acts as the prime conduit between the Indian Engineering fraternity and the Government. Set up in 1955, EEPC India now has a membership base of around 11,000 predominantly drawing 60% from MSME segment.
ES. What are some promotional activities EEPC conduct both in India and abroad? Please tell us about Indian Engineering Exhibition (INDEE) contributing to engineering fraternity at large.
Arun Kumar. EEPC India has been participating and organising promotional activities including buyer-seller meets (BSM) and managing India Pavilion in various overseas exhibitions to demonstrate the capabilities of Indian engineering industry. INDEE (Indian Engineering Exhibition) and its domestic counterpart – IESS (International Engineering Sourcing Show) are two flagship events of EEPC India.
EEPC India in its endeavour to facilitate the members to continue the business momentum during COVID-19 Pandemic, started organising e-sessions or webinars and Virtual exhibitions, since April 2020. It has organised over 500 webinars. Over 100 e BSMs have been arranged associating with over 40 Indian Overseas Missions viz. USA, UAE, Germany, Vietnam, France, Oman, South Korea, Russia, Peru, Senegal, Mozambique, Botswana, Thailand, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Kuwait to name a few
EEPC India has also started the physical participation at the International Exhibitions and in FY 23 it has already participated in close to 20 events in more than 13 countries including Germany, Bangladesh, Thailand, Italy, Korea, Tanzania Jordan, UK, South Africa, Malaysia, Germany, Columbia, Bulgaria, Nigeria, mobilising around 500 Indian Participants representing over 10 different Engineering product groups including Industrial Supply, Pharmaceutical Machinery, Medical Devices, Agri Machinery, HVAC R, Automotive Spare Parts, Metalwork Industry, Foundry, Forging, Hand Tools.
ES. Please tell us about Indian Engineering Exhibition (INDEE) contributing to engineering fraternity at large.
Arun Kumar. EEPC INDIA organizes its trademark exhibition – Indian Engineering Exhibition or INDEE as a showcase of Indian Engineering prowess. These exhibitions, earlier branded as INDETECH, are primarily meant to highlight the evolution of the Indian engineering industry from a supplier of low value, labour intensive products to technologically advanced items comparable with the products from the developed nations. Efforts are made to organize INDEE in focus regions of the Government of India which include Africa, Latin America, ASEAN +
Australia & New Zealand, CIS and other developing countries to tap the full potential of these markets.
Mostly, it is the small and medium scale engineering firms who are the key target groups for participation in such exhibitions. So far EEPC India has taken INDEE across 28 countries in 6 continents, Tanzania being the 28th nation. This year the
42nd edition of INDEE was held and Tanzania became the 28th INDEE destination EEPC India, here, led the largest Indian Engineering Delegation of over 80 Indian Exhibitors representing 28 Engineering Product Groups and it became the first Hybrid INDEE being in both online and offline mode.
ES. How would you summarize the year 2022 and the 2023: the year it is as of now for Indian Engineering Exports
Arun Kumar. The Indian Engineering Exports have been making and breaking its own records of USD 76.2 billion in 2017-18, USD 81 Billion over 2018-19 and now USD 112.1 Billion in 2021-22 which testify the demand for our products overseas! The slew of Government Export boosters- Make in India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Local Goes Global – Make in India for the World. Make in India, Make for World have exhorted the exporting community to search for new products in the export basket, look for newer destinations and ensure deeper penetration of the existing product and
markets and have enabled the nation to exceed the ambitious target of US$ 400 billion of merchandise exports for 2021-22 for the nation – The highest ever.
There was a detailed strategy in place, including specific targets set – country-wise, product-wise and EPC- wise, monitoring and course correction, behind the achievement of the export target.
The ‘whole of govt approach’ had been taken to the next level to ‘whole of country approach’ to achieve this remarkable target. India’s engineering exports outdid the targeted USD 107.8 billion and reached USD 112.1 billion which is a significant feat in itself.
India is now on road to fulfill the aspirational target of Trillion Dollar Exports of services and merchandise by 2047 – when India would be celebrating hundred years of independence. World today recognizes that India’s time has arrived.
Target for India’s engineering exports for 2022-23 set at USD 127 billion by the Government of India.
In line with the target for entire fiscal, cumulative target for Apr-Nov 2022-23 on pro-rata basis was USD 84.67 billion.
Actual engineering export in Apr-Nov 2022-23 was USD 70.72 billion
A shortfall of USD 13.95 billion was registered during the first eight months of fiscal 2022-23
During the first eight months of fiscal 2022-23, engineering exports achieved 66.67 percent of the USD 127 billion target set by the Government for the entire fiscal.
Cumulative engineering exports for April-November 2022-23 conceded 1.8 percent decline over the same period last month as it dropped to USD 70,717.80 million from USD 72,016.68 million in April-November 2021-22. As per the quick estimates of Department of Commerce, Government of India, the share of engineering exports to total merchandise exports from India was 23.90 percent in during April – November 2022-23.
On a cumulative basis 22 out of 34 engineering panels recorded positive growth during Apr-Nov 2022-23 over the same period last fiscal. . In terms of region, maximum growth in exports was witnessed in North America followed by Latin America and Oceania in cumulative terms.
Top exporting destinations countries that witnessed positive growth during April-November 2022-23 were USA, Germany and Mexico.
