The 9th Auto Expo 2008 ended with great success on 17 January. Auto Expo attracted over 2,000 exhibitors from 29 countries with a total exhibition scale of 120,000 s.qm. which enormously exceeds previous editions. 1.8 million visitors came to Auto Expo 2008, generating business worth about Rs 20,000 crore at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. ''The Auto Expo 2008 was the biggest ever in terms of size, number of participants, visitor turn-out and business,'' said Mr Gurpal Singh, CII Deputy Director General.
The auto show saw over 9,000 trade enquiries, Mr Singh said, adding that 66 percent inquiries generated are from business visitors, 21 percent with foreign visitors and about 4 percent from co-exhibitors and 8 percent from general visitors. More than 100 MOUs were signed during this period. While 59 percent of MOUs were agreed with the business visitors, 27 percent were with foreign visitors about 14 percent with co-exhibitors. Giving a perspective on Auto Components, Mr Vishnu Mathur, Executive Director, ACMA said, ''Thirty international delegations, from Germany, France, Japan, Spain, Canada and others, showed a keen interest in the Indian auto component sector.'' Mr Mathur said the trade investigations at the auto show indicated a positive signal for the domestic component sector. ''The Indian auto component industry has the potential to earn around 50 percent or $20-25 billion of its revenues from exports by 2015 when the domestic market is projected to be $40 billion.''
Commenting on Auto Expo 2008 Mr Dilip Chenoy, SIAM Director General said: ''This auto show really indicated the potential of the automobile industry in India in terms of novel products, including the Nano from Tata Motors which is not only low cost but extremely environment-friendly. This showed India's intellectual and technological capabilities and attracted global attention more vigorously than ever. Participants together with visitors have put Auto Expo on the global map.'' Auto Expo 2008 also focused on design element and eco-friendly technology in the automotive world, apart from launching new global models, striking business deals and getting huge export orders.
For more information download the post-show report of Auto Expo 2008 at www.auto-fairs.com.
