Show of Optimism

When: December 15-18, 2014 Where: India Expo Centre, Greater Noida/Delhi Organiser: Messe Mnnchen International and AEM After two successful editions in India, bC India in its third victorious year mirrored the positive vibes in the industry. Following the economic crisis that was India´s companion for the past few years, a stable government has once again infused the country with an atmosphere of guarded optimism that is sure to influence India's construction and construction-machinery sector. This was evident at the recently held expo in Greater Noida. Despite the distant location and the rains that affected the set-up of the outdoor booths a day prior to inauguration, bC India survived it all and performed. Proof: A recorded 26,000-plus business visitors this year along with 635 exhibitors from about 25 countries! Exhibitorspeak Satisfied with a good quantity of visitors from South Asia and India, Alex Wu, Managing Director, Sany Heavy Industry, confirms that the company was able to close some good contracts. Similarly, Asit Patel, Managing Director, Ammann Apollo, is happy with the results, saying, ¨bC India is a vehicle to convince customers and sell products.¨ Speaking in favour of the venue, Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director & CEO, Wirtgen, reasons, ¨All our competitors are here. We had genuine visitors at our booth and lots of customers from the northern part of the country.¨ The response at the expo reflected India´s growth graphs as well. As Raman Joshi, Executive Vice President Asia-Pacific, Manitowoc Cranes, puts it, ¨Our impression from bC India is that the construction industry in this country is keen to play a starring role in helping India achieve its growth ambitions.¨ For ACE, it was visitors with serious business intentions like buying or selling. Sorab Agarwal, Executive Director, ACE, India, says, ¨We wanted to network with our customers and showcase our products at bC India and we reached all these goals. Further, we closed some deals.¨ Launches and deals Indeed, the expo was witness to a number of customer handovers. Rajesh Shrivastava, General Manager-Marketing & Dealer Development, Terex India, confirmed that visitors came and bought equipment right at the booth. Sany Heavy Industries had a similar experience, with VPR Mining Infrastructure purchasing its equipment, SY480LC-9H. Similarly, Manitowoc received booking for its self-erecting crane Potain Igo 26 from a Jaipur-based civil contractor Global Buildestate Projects Pvt Ltd and its topless model Potain MCT 85 was sold to Pune-based SJ Contracts Pvt Ltd. There was similar reason to rejoice for many other exhibitors at the expo. What´s more, there could be no better platform for exhibitors to launch their offerings for the Indian market. Manitowoc, Ammann Apollo, Terex, Mtandt, Schwing Stetter, KYB-Conmat, Scania, Haulotte, Nakoda Machinery, Aquarius, Terex Corporation, Magni, ELGi were among the many exhibitors with new launches. Scripting success CONSTRUCTION WORLD and EQUIPMENT INDIA were the official publications of bC India 2014. While CONSTRUCTION WORLD released a daily newsletter - at the expo, for the expo - for all four days, EQUIPMENT INDIA organised the highly regarded Equipment India Conference as well as Equipment India Awards that recognised leading experts in the field and witnessed industry stalwarts share their experiences. Also, the Indian Construction Equipment Manufactures´ Association (ICEMA) organised a conference, ´Infrastructure Equipment - Re-scripting the Growth Story´. With this came to an end another successful edition. The current construction equipment scenario looks optimistic mainly on account of improved business sentiment after the change in government in May 2014: This was certainly the voice of every exhibitor at bC India 2014. Read on for exclusive views from selected exhibitors....