President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday inaugurated the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) at Vigyan Bhavan here.
Speaking on the occasion, the President called upon the EEPC to focus on product quality and market as well as product diversification.
He commended the EEPC for taking initiatives to promote new and emerging sectors such as Defense, Medical Devices and Renewable Energy and for its stress on Skill Development.
The President further complimented EEPC for having become the largest organization of its kind with over 13,000 members out of whom 60 percent are SMEs after having started its journey with only 40 exporters at a time when India's engineering exports were all of 10 million US dollars.
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He pointed out that exports from India crossed 70 billion dollars in the last fiscal, which he described as testimony to the service EEPC has been rendering to the nation.
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The President said engineering is the leading segment of Indian industry and overseas shipments from this sector account for over twenty-two percent of India's total merchandise exports.
The engineering sector accounts for 25 percent of India's total factories in the organized sector and contributes around 35 percent of total output in the country, being the highest foreign exchange earner.
The President expressed confidence that EEPC India will continue to enlarge the sphere of its activities in coordination with all stakeholders and build up a formidable brand value for the Indian engineering industry in the years to come.
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were, Minister of Communications & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Chairman of EEPC IndiaAnupam Shah.