India Emerges As Potential Market For Machine Tools

The good investment atmosphere of the Indian manufacturing industry is turning the country another booming market for machine tools in Asia. According to the "2005 World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey" conducted by Gardner Publications, Inc, in 2004, India consumed US$474.2 million worth of machine tools, representing a 69% increase from the preceding year based in US currency. However, the country's production of machine tools (cutting and forming types) was worth less than half of the production, amounting to US$220.6 million only, despite that it was already a growth of 52% from the previous year. The gap between demand and supply was, of course, filled up by imported products, leading to a surge of 82% in machine tools import in 2004. One Taiwanese machine tool manufacturer compares the market of India to that of China, stating that India is following China's footprints, though it is five years behind. Encountering the potential in this market, major machine tool producing countries like Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Korea are striving to have a larger share of the pie. To the German machine tool industry, "India has been a very important market," Carl Martin Welcker, Chairman of the German Machine Tool Builders' Association (VDW), said, although India is only their 22nd largest customer, to which 77.4 million euros worth of German machine tools were exported in 2004. This figure represents that the double-digit growth of Germany's exports to India since 2002 continues. The majority of products involved were machining centers, grinding, honing and lapping machines, as well as gear cutting machines. Taiwan's exports of machine tools to India amounted to NT$1,588 million in 2004, up 229% from the previous year, putting India in the seventh place in Taiwan's export market rankings. Taiwanese suppliers are, in general, looking at the opportunities in small-sized machine tools, which are anticipated to be particularly demanded in the automotive parts and mold sectors in the near future. India's local machine tool makers to build up strength through export Despite the large demand for machine tools by the manufacturing industry in India, the country's domestic makers of machine tools fail to provide sufficient supply not only because of a lack of capacity, but, more importantly, due to the backward development of technology and poor quality. As commented by a two-wheeler manufacturer from Japan, India's machine tools have not catch up with international standards in terms of reliability, plug-and-play capability, long-term precision, down time, safety, power consumption, operating noise, and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance). This has resulted in India's reliance on imported two-wheelers at the moment. To get over this situation, C.P. Rangachar, President of Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association, believes that a focus on export business will, in the long run, help Indian manufacturers enhance their competitive edges as well as capacity, and in turn, benefit the local manufacturing industry. Target markets can be Poland, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, and China as well. However, the industry has to overcome a series of hurdles such as a lack of distribution and services network, high engineering manpower, and so on. Currently, there are about 450 machine tool manufacturers in India, with the top 10 contributing 70% of the country's total output. Capacity expansion projects are underway and will be completed by 2006 at the earliest.