The Confederation of Indian Industry is planning to take its auto exposition to Dubai first and then to other parts of the world for a closer interaction with potential buyers.
Plans are on the anvil to take the expo to countries such as Mexico, Brazil, US and Europe among others. The Auto Expo in Delhi will, however, continue every alternate year.
The Dubai expo will represent manufacturers from the car, two-wheeler, commercial vehicles and the component sectors, who are looking at export markets. The expo will be also used by companies looking at investing overseas by setting up production base in such markets. The initiative in Dubai is being taken jointly with Siam and Acma.
CII's head of trade fairs Piush Behl said: "We got a feedback from our customers that they want exhibitors to come near to them than they having to go to Pragati Maidan in New Delhi where the expo is held. While the Delhi auto show will continue we will be organising Auto Expo India in different parts of the world were manufacturers have potential buyers".
While details have still not been finalised on the other locations were the expo would be held, the CII is in touch with large auto shows held all over the world, which include the Detroit, Paris, and Tokyo car shows. The organisation is looking at joining them to have a special Indian show within these international events in a big way.
The decision to go to Dubai was also based on feedback from companies who saw large potential for exports in the west Asian market. Some of them also see a potential in the west Asian market for setting up manufacturing facilities.
Meanwhile, the 6th Auto Expo 2002, which concluded yesterday amid a recession in the auto industry, was able to transact Rs 100 million of business in few days. The number of business enquiries generated was 1.98 lakh and as many as 3,500 export enquiries were generated in this period. The expo also saw the signing in of as many as 10 joint ventures in the component business arena.
Based on feedback in the exhibition, the CII has decided to increase the business hours in the 7th Auto expo to be held in 2004 to four hours, hike the price of tickets during general hours from Rs 20 to Rs 100, allow admit cards for visitors only during the general hours and stop cultural programmes within the premises. "We want to restrict the number of visitors so that we get only serious people to be there during the business hours," said a CII executive.
