SHOW REPORT

ITMACH Bhiwandi 2015 Sets Stage For An Advantageous Future

ITMACH Bhiwandi opened with an optimistic dynamism this year at Bhiwandi on the 17th of December. The show that began with its first edition in 2014 is also the first of its kind textile machinery event in the country. The start was a little slow during the first hours of the first day, but the visitors count by the end of the day definitely signalled to a steady beginning. The exhibitors reported a good bank of queries right from day 1. “We were not really expecting much considering the destination to be Bhiwandi. However, we have to say we entertained a series of positive queries all through the three days,” informed an excited R. Anbazhahan, Managing Director, Reiniger Welker. When asked about the quality of the queries, he further added, “When people call us to say that they are visiting the exhibition to see our machines working live and then leave a query for us. We eagerly wait to readdress the queries post the exhibition. These queries are definitely qualitative business responses.”

The visitors’ flow picked up a striking momentum through the entire span of the exhibition, and was recorded at a fair figure of near about 22000, towards the end of the show. The exhibitors reported an oozing success over the next two days. While it was about successful selling for many, the others were very happy with the quality of queries they responded to all through ITMACH. “We are extremely happy with the positive queries we could tackle at ITMACH. Our aim is now to convert these to business, post the show. We are sure, over the next three months we will be able to taste the success of the exhibition as a translation to business for Laxmi. Getting machines and demonstrating the same live at the show would have helped me generate even more queries,” commented an optimistic Ketan Sanghvi, Laxmi Shuttleless Looms Pvt. Ltd.

Bigrojgar launched

This chapter of ITMACH Bhiwandi was not only about the machinery exhibitors, but a larger initiative was also celebrated this year. ‘Bigrojgar.com’ was a star attraction at the show this time which aims to seal the gap between the job market, workforce and institutes, through technology. Bigrojgar interconnects three segments of the ecosystem – jobseekers, employers and educational and skilling institutions cutting the prevailing gap between the segments on its podium www. Bigrojgar.com. Finding the right candidate for a fitting designation, hone the skills of the candidates requiring training at the right institute and providing career counselling are among the primary goals of the portal. Bigrojgar is ready to walk the talk for the betterment of the stakeholders by creating a common platform. The Bigrojgar portal was launched and inaugurated by Kapil Patil, Member of Parliament, Bhiwandi who expressed his happiness and was overwhelmed at the efforts taken by Bigrojgar to benefit the varied aspects of the labour intrinsic industries. The effort was extremely well received at the exhibition and taking the spirit of the portal into consideration, many educational institutions, job seekers and companies alike enquired for services on offer.

Nurturing Clusters

Bhiwandi, over the years, has been investing in modernisation, increasingly adopting shuttleless looms. ITMACH Bhiwandi 2015 closely followed on this path to success, with large number of visitors from the cluster studying the best technologies for their needs. The show was inaugurated by Tushar Chowdhury, Mayor, Bhiwandi and Sumit P Patil, Corporator, BNCMC today at Bhiwandi. The honourable chief guests were immensely vocal about the positive developments taking place at Bhiwandi. “ITMACH Bhiwandi is pioneering developments within the textile sector. The machines on display demonstrate a worldview. The industry here definitely takes an effort to go and fetch improved machinery from the world over, but bringing them back home and that too solely for a cluster is definitely a commendable work,” commented Tushar Chowdhury. “The show is set on a smooth step by step progress. And it is certainly an interesting feeling to come and interact with the industry and have such quality business discussions here at Bhiwandi,” spoke a happy Manchhalal K Jain, Director, Shree Daksh Jyot Silk Mills, Bhiwandi. The visitors from Bhiwandi were excited to see the looms in working conditions and were extremely overwhelmed to witness the advancements happening in the other parts of the world at Bhiwandi itself. “I would want to see more sizing units in the exhibition the next year. But so far, this platform is extremely futuristic and I have recorded the working of so many machines here. We will have to play the video, train our staff and teach them how everything around us is getting advanced every passing day. We are aiming to purchase some advanced looms once we are able to train our staff with the modern tactics,” commented Munawwar Khan, Madina Sizing, Bhiwandi.

Bhiwandi has responded to the exhibition with open arms and the same did not need any bigger evidence, than the busy booths and the smiles on the faces of the exhibitors. “We were never considered to be a part of the Bhiwandi market until now. But ITMACH has been the right platform to set us up among the market here and we are quite happy in mentioning today that we are beginning to be a part of the Maharashtra market quite comfortably. We welcomed a nice flow of queries from the clusters ranging from Bhiwandi, Malegaon, and Sholapur to more surprising places like Benaras,” spoke Suresh Gondalia, Director, Aalidhra Techtex Pvt. Ltd. “We get to see everything from a compressor to complete dye plants in an exhibition like ITMACH Bhiwandi. And the most interesting thing is everything that we see is the best from the Chinese and European manufacturers. Unfortunately, not all of us can attend bigger and more famous textile exhibitions, platforms like this and especially at a place like Bhiwandi presents a complete worldview and gives us the chance that we would otherwise miss,” encouragingly voiced Harbans Singh, Deputy Manager Store, Sarla Performance Fibers.

Visitors at the exhibition proved once again this year that growth has become almost a constant for the success of ITMACH Bhiwandi show. Visitors from Malegaon, Surat, Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur, Belgaum, Tarapur, and Bhiwandi dropped in to meet the technology providers. “The show has been showing a considerable improvement as compared to the last edition. I specifically came with the intent to explore looms, and I am very happy. My requirements have been fulfilled through my three days of exploration here. I did not miss a day, as I wanted to make the most of the show. I came with a requirement of 200 looms and now I will go back seeing it fulfilled from here,” spoke a satisfied Mahesh Patodia, Patodia Weaving Mills, Malegaon. While the clusters where welcoming change and was walking the path to progress, there was considerable visitation from other prominent regions of the world too. Visitors from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Dubai were not only happy to visit ITMACH Bhiwandi but also generate extreme business interest from the exhibition. Knowledge sharing was also an immensely big priority at Bhiwandi, as a big team from Raymond, Vapi, visited to gather understanding of the machines and dribble through the changes being exhibited at the show.

Encouraging Trade

“Associating with ITMACH Bhiwandi this year was like partnering a progress story. Participants this year were prominent and created a major impact on the evolving market of the clusters. Bhiwandi was happy to witness the Chinese machinery operating live and would want to see more in the future exhibitions. At the end of the three days, we have also got the feedback that considerable business was done here at Bhiwandi, which definitely is a surprising achievement as compared to the location and the overall slow market pace,” comments S.V. Mohile, Officer In charge, Sasmira. Mohile also mentioned how the market does not look so promising owing to the cloudy situation of the TUFS interest subsidy schemes. But then again he repeatedly pointed out the market openings that the clusters are pioneering and how a little initiative can go a long way to trace the successes at Bhiwandi, Sholapur, and Malegaon etc. We are completely sold out, and it didn’t take us the entire three days to gain such momentum. We have sold three of our speciality rolls to Shiv Kripa Art and Silvertouch in Bhiwandi. We also take immense pleasure in having sold one to Aishwariya Dyeing at Surat. We took a small booth in ITMACH Bhiwandi, but by the end of the show we are more than 100% successful in our endeavour,” mentioned Priya Ranjan, Senior Manager, Emco Electrodynamics India.

Baldev Patel, Partner, Bobbiler Tex Machienry India was more than pleased with his business position post ITMACH Bhiwandi. Bobbiler according to him is a small textile machinery player within the value chain and this was also their first participation at ITMACH Bhiwandi. But Patel was very satisfied with the sales at the exhibition, as Bobbiler recorded a neat sale of its sectional warping machines at Bhiwandi, closely followed by Surat. He articulated how positive the atmosphere at the exhibition was and they have generated much needed queries from Malegaon, Sholapur, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Exhibitors like Manisha Overseas, Aultimate Tex (India) Pvt. Ltd., Gayatritex Engineers Pvt. Ltd., Manoj Engineering and Tech Mech Engineers registered record sales at ITMACH Bhiwandi this year. “The experience at the show was really good for us. We have been able to generate serious queries and have sold more than 10 machines to customers from Bhiwandi and down South,” expressed Vinod Panchal, Director, Gayatritex Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Sheeza Impex had a lovely booth at the centre spot and the exhibitor brought all new technologies to Bhiwandi for the show this year. And the machines have not only generated seriously positive queries but have sold considerably well right through the three days of the show. “We have sold 24 airjet machines and 48 Rapier machines to customers from Bhiwandi and Ichalkaranji,” accounted Saeed Kadar Momin, CEO, Sheeza Impex.

While business was in the air for most of the exhibitors, the European giants were quite impressed with the interest and queries they were able to generate with their generous presence. They prepared the clusters with the knowledge of the technology advancement and equipped them to aspire for advanced machineries too in the time to come. Bhiwandi is still decades behind in modern infrastructure and never presents a ready ground for shows like this. Owing to this disadvantage, few of the European key players were a little fizzled out with the exhibition premises and the handicapped situation a sector like Bhiwandi brings with it.