The Bauma Conexpo Show - bC India, which took place from December 15 to 18, 2014 in the India Expo Centre in Greater Noida, Delhi, has held a steady course as regards key figures. A total of 26,000 visitors and 635 exhibitors from 25 countries attended the third edition of this international trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines and construction vehicles.

After its successful two editions in Mumbai, bC India flagged off its third edition, and this time at a new location - Greater Noida. Inaugurating this year?s show, Dr. Martin Hanz, Deputy Chief of Mission, German Embassy, New Delhi, said, ?Investment in infrastructure is the key to rapid economic growth. It is the sector, which literally paves the way for increased economic activity - it is particularly important for the manufacturing sector. All this will certainly increase demand for construction equipment. This is indeed the right time to invest and expand in the Indian market. In this regard, this fair could be an excellent platform for all the stakeholders: manufacturers, potential buyers and policy makers to interact and cooperate.?

Said Tushar Mehendale, Managing Director, ElectroMech, ?We look forward to the Indian economy kick-starting back - getting into the top gear. So this expo is one of the shows that is happening at the right time when people have started reconsidering their decision on investments, projects have started to pick up, etc. We hope that this becomes a mode to predict what will happen in the future. Achhe Din will not happen over-night - a lot has happened over the last 10-15 years and hence, the challenging scenario today, and it is impossible to turn around a situation in 200 days. Things are going to take some time. But the optimism arises from the fact that the government is accepting that there are problems and it has to be taken care of, which was not the case before. bC India is more for us to meet the customers and showcase our products. It is a brand building event and we can initiate detailed discussions with customers about their various projects. So at the enquiry level, there is movement.?

?We feel Delhi is a good location to have this exhibition because this year and in the coming years, most of the road projects are coming in the North and the East, including the tenders which are coming in December of almost Rs 15,000 crore. Also, our customer base is changing. Earlier, it was mostly South-based road contractors, but now demand comes majorly from the North-based road contractors; they are very active. Also, since Delhi is the capital city, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and many other associations are here. Most customers will come for their business and that can be clubbed with attending this expo,? said Ramesh Palagiri, Mananging Director and CEO, Wirtgen India.

MRV Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, KION India had this to say, ?bC India is one of the best trade fairs in India and surely a great opportunity for exhibitors and visitors to come face to face. This exchange of thoughts will benefit customers in knowing the variety of products and finding out what suits their needs best while manufacturers can present their technology to customers and assess their competitors.?

?We are happy with the participation because we received a lot of enquiries from prospective clients. We see this as a successful exhibition for us. Our target customers are mainly from the underground projects - tunnels and metro projects - and many visitors have come from that field. A Finland-based company, Normet India has a strong foothold in tunnelling and mining equipment. We recently launched a construction chemicals division and is receiving a good response for that as well. We are fully satisfied with this exhibition because it is helping us in branding ourselves and converting many enquiries into business. We had invited our existing clients and they got new ones and there were many other new visitors who have come to our stall,? said Prakash Chandra,

General Manager-Sales & Marketing, Normet India.
?We have participated in the previous two editions as well in Mumbai, and this event impresses me a lot. Its bigger, more exhibitors, more information and the participation that I have seen in the last two days is striking. We come from the formwork industry and it is very important for the construction companies in India to change their minds - changing from conventional solution to standard solutions, to speed up and finish their projects faster and to be effective. There is immense potential in India,?

Opined Jurgen Gnida, Project Manager Key Projects, PERI GmbH, Formwork Scaffolding Engineering, ?This is the first exhibition in North India and LiuGong, particularly, has a better hold in the Northern part of the country. So for us it is a good show. We are getting more and more enquiries. We are known in the area, and last year, in terms of loader sales, we were number one in North India. This year, the expo is giving us more mileage, and we are getting good enquiries for our new launch - 2 tonne loaders. This offering is a solution to our customers because a lot of infrastructure work is happening in Delhi, and that particular class of customers is looking for some solution. So this product is the answer to all their queries,? avers Nischal Mehrotra, Director (Sales & Service), Liugong India.

Igor Palka, CEO, bC Expo India, said, ?Our exhibitors have so much trust in our brand and are continuing to support bC India in what is still a difficult economic environment. The event is now a firm date in the calendar for many companies and it has established itself. We have had a lot of positive feedback - and of course we are delighted about that.?

The exhibitors were particularly pleased with the quality of the trade visitors. Sorab Agarwal, Executive Director, ACE, said, ?We had visitors from all over India but also international ones. We only had genuine customers - there was no wasting time, they were here for business. ? Tanmay Majumdar, Associate Vice President of Gmmco/Caterpillar, added: ?The quality of visitors was very high, including good buyers, contractors and the like. bC India is a good opportunity to meet new customers.?

bC India also enjoys a very high status as a presentation platform for companies, as Sandip Choudhuri, General Manager & Head, Kansbahal Works at Larsen & Toubro, confirmed, ?We had many customers and very serious enquiries. The visitors were very seriously interested in our products. We launched a new product here and in that respect it was very important for us to be here to use bC India as a platform.?

As well as high quality, bC India also provided an excellent opportunity for signing up new business as Rajesh Shrivastava, General Manager - Marketing & Dealer Development of Terex India, confirmed: ?We had customers coming and buying equipment right off the booth. We are very excited about the profile of the customers here at bC India.?

And this is how S Baskar Babu, General Manager, Schwing Stetter India, summed up with his company?s experience, ?bC India as usual came out very well. The quality and the delivery of bC India is unbeatable. We will definitely participate in every edition of bC India.?