Local construction companies to seize opportunities at Indian exhibition

By Devin Jayasundera

‘EXCON 2011,’ the third largest construction exhibition in the world, is to be held in Bangalore from 23 to 27 November this year. This exhibition is organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a premier business association in India.

A CII delegation was present in Colombo to brief the representatives of commerce and industry of Sri Lanka about the opportunities available in the Indian infrastructure industry.

At the briefing EXCON Steering Committee Member and Group Head Construction Equipment Finance L&T Finance Limited R. Sathyanarayanan enlightened the audience on the rise of infrastructure development in India.

“India is one of the largest and the most dynamic infrastructure and finance markets in the world and the financing requirements for Indian infrastructure will be US$ 1 trillion in the next five years,” he said.

One of the major features of the EXCON will be the showcasing of the Indian manufacturers’ construction equipment. Sathyanarayanan noted that the construction equipment industry is poised for an unprecedented growth rate of 14% from the fiscal years of 2011 to 2014. It also contributes US$ 4.8 million as tax revenue. He also mentioned that this sector has high potential to bring in more revenue through exports.

Sathyanarayanan also shared some key figures of the Indian infrastructure sector. “Currently the infrastructure sector is allocated US$ 43 billion and this is a 23% increase compare to the fiscal year 2010/11. The infrastructure sector is also a prime contributor which accounts for 26.7% of the industrial output.”

With regard to private sector involvement in the construction of infrastructure, he pointed out that “private and public private investments are estimated to have accounted for over 30% of total investments in infrastructure and this is to increase to 50%, which is 100 billion dollars, in the next five years.”

EXCON 2011 Taskforce Leader on Road Shows and Schwing Stetter India (Pvt) Limited Managing Director Anand Sundaresan pointed to some significant construction projects of recent times to highlight the rapid growth that’s happening in India.

“The biggest airport in Asia, which is in China, handles about 43 million passengers and took about six to seven years to construct, but when you compare this with the newly-constructed airport in New Delhi, the second biggest airport in Asia handles 37 million passengers and took only 37 months to complete. These are some indications of the capability of the Indian construction industry and it projects the ability to carry out mega projects efficiently,” asserted Sundaresan.

The exhibition will feature 600 exhibitors and 400 will be from India. Major construction companies from Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and China will also take part in EXCON 2011. There will also be a conference during the exhibition to share experiences between construction companies and educate participants on efficient mechanisms of construction in mega projects.

In his concluding remarks, he invited local construction companies to take part in the infrastructure opportunities available in India and said that Sri Lankan companies should seize the opportunities that are laid out with the growth of the infrastructure industry of India.