NEW DELHI, March 6 (RIA Novosti commentator Yevgeny Bezeka) - India plans to take over a substantial part of Russia's auto components market, the executive director of India's Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), has told RIA Novosti.
The Council is currently organizing the participation of more than 150 Indian producers of engineering goods, including auto components, rolled steel, industrial, textile and construction equipment, cables, instruments and machines, in the St Petersburg Technical Fair, scheduled for March 11-14, 2008. The Day of India will be held during the fair on March 11.
This will be a trial visit, Rantideb Maitra said. If five or seven Indian companies get a foothold in Russia, there could be up to 150 of them in Russia next year.
The EEPC was set up in 1955 with the assistance of the Ministry of Commerce and the Government of India to promote the export of engineering goods, projects and services from India. It unites 14,000 companies.
Maitra said that India was an active participant in international fairs and exhibitions, and that its participation was yielding positive results.
An examination of the participants of any major exhibition will prove that India is a major player, translating its participation into orders, he said.
The largest buyers of Indian engineering goods are the United States, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Russia accounts for a mere 1% of India's exports.
The director said that the establishment of foreign car assembly plants in north-west Russia gives Indian companies a chance to supply auto components to that market.
India is a leading exporter of auto components, Maitra said. Auto-production giants, such as Mercedes, Ford and BMW, order their components in India.
There are several centers in India producing auto components for international companies. General Motors buys them from Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, while Mercedes places its orders with the production units based in Puna, he said.
Maitra is optimistic about meeting representatives of major automobile manufacturers in St Petersburg. He believes that the lack of financial ties and undeveloped transport routes between Russia and India can be dealt with by spurring bilateral trade cooperation. These problems will be solved as bilateral ties develop, he said.
The St Petersburg fair is a good place for Russian and Indian businessmen to get to know each other. Maitra said that a lack of contacts and knowledge about the situation in Russia currently hinders the advance of India's engineering business there.
Indians knew the Soviet Union, but have no profound knowledge of Russia, he said, adding that many Indians believe that several influential families are running Russia, and that it still has a planned economy.
In 2005, Russia bought as much as $51 billion worth of engineering goods, most of them in Europe and China. India's share of the Russian engineering market is only 0.1% ($121 million in 2006).
Maitra also said that Indian companies are ready for fair competition with firms from industrialized countries, including China. India has one of the largest workforces in the technical sector, he said, and he believes in its bright future because of the great number of graduates with a technical education who enter the job market every year.
India offers a broad variety of goods of the same type, which is a competitive advantage. Maitra explained that this was a result of the even distribution of production facilities in the country.
"The Soviet Union was India's partner, and I see no reason why Russia cannot remain its partner," he said.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
