7th VDMA Mechanical Engineering Summit India As A Manufacturing Force

THE 7TH VDMA MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Summit was held on September 28 at Conrad Hotel, Pune. More than 250 participants, mainly German companies in India (VDMA members) attended the event. The Summit began six years ago in Pune, followed by Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi and was held last year again in Bangalore.

The day commenced with the welcome address from Rajesh Nath, MD, VDMA India who spoke about four years of the government where India experienced impactful reforms and the need for consolidation in the next few years. The biggest tax reform was GST.

The Chief Guest, Mrs Rashmi Urdhwareshe, director, ARAI also made a presentation on Implementation of BIS–VI: Way forward for the automobile industry. She highlighted the landscape of the automobile industry, implementation of BS-IV to BS-VI by 2020, future of e-mobility, research activities, regulatory scenario and improvement of testing facilities.

Dr Jurgen Morhard Consul General, Federal Republic of Germany, Mumbai, gave a special address on “Indo German trade in western part of India”. He considered VDMA as an excellent platform of providing network for German companies and helping them to establish their businesses in India.

Wrapping up the inaugural session, Carl Martin Welcker, VDMA president, was more optimistic trading with India as exports have grown to 1.6 billion euro in the last year. The export share from Germany is at 78% of their production with Asia contributing to 23% of this export share.

Keeping sync with the increasing use of robots in manufacturing, a robot was used to release the VDMA Summit special issue by guests.

Knowledge Partner, BDB India, released the report on "Primary user industry for machinery manufacturers”. It was followed by a presentation.

The first technical session commenced with a presentation by Aditya Lakhanpal, director, corporate treasury solutions, global markets, HSBC who spoke on macroeconmics trends & digitisation. The positive factor is that the inflation which was double digit 4 years back is now around 4%. The inflation in the next year will remain under control.