MK Vinod, Meyer India's sales manager, shaking hands with Hansjörg Freund, Meyer's export sales manager.

Indian and overseas exhibitors alike have labelled the inaugural CeMAT India, held at the International Trade Fair for Intralogistics in Bangalore from 4 to 7 December a success.

About 150 exhibitors occupied 3,000 square metres of floor space. One-third came from India, about 20% from Germany and the rest were from Italy, Spain and the US. They exhibited forklifts, lifting equipment and cranes, materials handling systems and software systems.

German forklift attachment maker Hans H Meyer GmbH took advantage of the event to introduce Meyer India, its new dealer, while Italian company Bolzoni Auramo SpA was looking to increase its local representation.

Like other exhibitors Forkliftaction.com News spoke to, Meyer's Hansjorg Freund observed that the Indian materials handling market is booming.
"With our own dealer, Meyer now has established a presence in this important Indian marketplace."

Freund praised the event as "professionally organised". "The quantity and quality of visitors to the show was very good. Customers could see, touch and feel the Meyer attachments at our stand," he said.

Bolzoni SpA area sales manager Vittorio Lucchini was also impressed with CeMAT India.

"It was really worthwhile having a venue that could create for operators of this sector opportunities for entering the market. There is certainly room for European-made quality but time and resources must be invested to exploit the advantages of the booming market."

Kaup exhibited through its distributor Mamsico, Machine & Mill Stores Corp Pvt Ltd.

Lucchini added that the event facilities were comfortable and modern, but complained that poor infrastructure made travelling to and from the exhibition centre difficult.

"We should participate in the next CeMAT India, probably through our local dealer, provided the contacts collected lead to a positive conclusion, as I think it will."

Mark Timothy, Linde Heavy Truck Division Ltd's international product manager, said he was glad Linde had informed its key customer base of the event.

"Visitor response on day one was poor, but the following days were good. We learned from visitors that there was a lack of forward advertising of the event."

Ulrich Rüdiger, Kaup GmbH & Co KG's area manager for India, complained about the absence of exhibitor catalogues but said the company's stand welcomed many customers.

TVH Group representatives Frederik Lempiere and Sanjoy Roychoudhury used the show to develop contacts and receive end-user feedback from OEMs and TVH dealers in north and south India.

Lempiere said visitor response was "very positive".

TVH Group representatives Sanjoy Roychoudhury and Frederik Lempiere at the company's stand.

"Forklift dealers, OEMs, end users, component manufacturers, consultants, port industry members all visited our stand."

However, he said TVH Group would consider exhibiting at CeMAT India once every two years for it to be "meaningful".

Indian forklift companies Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd and Macneill Engineering Limited plan to participate in next year's show.

Tarak Bhattacharya, Macneill's business development manager, described visitor response to the company's forklift display as "very good".

"[CeMAT] enables us to exhibit our range of products worldwide and helps us get market feedback for recent developments in the materials handling equipment field."

Godrej's senior general manager Cavas Dumasia said it was encouraging for the company to see India hosting its own CeMAT.

"We expect to have greater participation next year from our overseas business partners like Crown, Manitou, Komatsu, Hubtex and Tennant who are world leaders."

Godrej showcased its counterbalanced electric forklift range and articulated forklift, and Komatsu diesel and LPG forklifts.

Show organiser Deutsche Messe says the logistics sector is one of the fastest growing service segments in India but domestic spending on warehousing and transport systems is low by international standards.

According to Deutsche Messe, the international logistics sector expects the Indian market to grow between 20 to 30% a year. Germany exported 100% more intralogistics products in 2006 compared to 2005, a total of EUR128 million (USD188.2 million).

Deutsche Messe says growth of Indian logistics is hindered by poor infrastructure and high freight processing costs.

"The transport and storage of perishable goods in India is an especially big problem."

"For this reason, the creation of extensive cold chains in the country is currently perceived as a particularly lucrative investment opportunity."

CeMAT India 2008 is likely to include a "Cold Chain Logistics" theme, says Deutsche Messe department manager Alexander Kühnel.

"There are many additional subjects which will be added to CeMAT India since logistics is an especially exciting issue there."