Over 500 cos to participate; To form clusters in order to beat Chinese heat.
The unorganised stainless steel sector is aiming to come together and form clusters in a bid to compete with Chinese companies. As a show of strength through their recently formed umbrella Indian Stainless Steel Development Organisation (ISDO), the Indian companies are planning to host in what is being billed as world's first stainlessware fair in January 2010.
About 550 big and small companies are likely to participate in this event called 'Indinox-The Stainless Steel Fair' wherein about 800 stalls will be exhibited.
Spread across an area of 1.75 million sq ft, the event, to be held in Ahmedabad, is expected to draw a footfall of around one million over a period of four days from January 16 to January 19, claim its organisers. What's more, the fair is expected to see participants from over 52 countries including China, US and European nations.
Representatives of giants like Walmart and Ikea are also expected to visit the fair in order to consolidate on their stainless steel sourcing from India.
Apparently, the country's competition with China is also because the latter's per capita stainless steel consumption is 6.2 kg while that of India is mere 1.2 kg. In India there are about
"Many times we get orders from overseas buyers demanding 50 containers or so. The small and medium enterprises are not able to meet this and the orders are bagged by China. Hence we aim to form clusters and this fair will give the much needed platform. Besides, the event will also provide technology sharing platform for the industry," according to R L Choudhary, core committe member of ISDA.
Even major stainless steel manufacturers like Jindal, Shah Alloys and Electrotherm have extended support to the event. "In the year 2000, stainless steel production of India and China were nearly same at 1 MMTPA levels. Today, China produces a whopping 7 million tonnes way ahead of us," according to N C Mathur, director-corporate affairs of Jindal Stainless Steel, a company which contributes to one-third of India's annual production of stainless steel.
Currently, India's total stainless steel production per annum comes to around 2.2 million tonnes of which Gujarat contributes around 6-7 lakh tonnes per annum, according to Ugamraj Hundia, president of ISDO and chairman of Garuda group.
Of the 2.2 million tonnes, about 70-72 per cent is consumed by utensils industry, said Pawan Kansal, CEO of Jagdamba International Houseware Pvt Ltd.
"We expect a lot of joint ventures and new business relationships to develop at this event. Some MoUs can also be expected which can take a formal shape at Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2011," said Kaushal Bhansali, member of ISDA that was formed about eight months ago.
