bC India will create confidence in the market and improve the business situation.
Looking at the need of infra?structure developments in India in the long run, the CE market has a promising future. We hope that bC India 2013 will contribute to improve current market sentiments, says Thomas Loffler, Chief Executive Officer, bC Expo India. In a chat with EQUIPMENT INDIA, Thomas stresses the fact that they will be able to offer all visitors an even more representative market place at bC India 2013.

How do you assess the current Indian CE market scenario and its growth prospects?
Currently, various effects like the general economic downturn, high interest rates as well as a weak Indian rupee has affected the CE market. Our colleagues from the research organisation Off-Highway Research forecasts that the year 2012 will end with around 66,000 sold units of construction equipment which is lower than in 2011. However, they assume the markets will improve in 2013 to a similar level of around 2011 to around 72,000 units. They forecast a figure of 105,000 sold units by the end of 2016. Looking at the need for infrastructure developments in India in the long run, the CE market has a promising future. We hope that BC India 2013 will contribute to improve current market sentiments

What contributory role does bC India expect to play?
The Bauma Conexpo Show - bC India, is a marketplace where buyers and sellers of construction equipment come together. We do not expect bC India to have an influence on the factors mentioned by you as we are speaking about a national phenomena, which an exhibition is unlikely to change. However, we hope that bC India will create confidence in the market in order to boost sentiments and make the business situation improve.

What is your take on the downward trend in the Chinese CE market? What was the trend at bauma China?
Similar to the Indian scenario, I believe also the situation in China will improve, looking at the huge potential of the Chinese market. China is a huge country where especially in the second and third tier cities a lot of infrastructure development is going to happen in the future. This year?s bauma China underlined this assumption. Some 2,718 exhibitors from 38 countries covered 300,000 sq m of exhibition space. With regards to the number of exhibitors, this is an increase of 46 per cent compared to bauma China 2010. Space-wise we are talking about a growth of 30 per cent. In four exhibition days, around 180,000 trade visitors came to see the event, which is 16 per cent more than in 2010; the figures speak for themselves.

The inaugural edition of bC India was a huge success. How prepared is bC India 2013 to meet all expectations?
True, bC India 2011 was a success beyond expectations. Therefore, we are proud that we will be able to offer all visitors an even more representative marketplace at bC India 2013. We have more exhibitors, covering more space than in 2011. About 700 exhibitors was our target and with 659 at the moment and every day more exhibitors applying for space, we are confident about reaching this target, even in a difficult economical situation. Another point which will be beneficial for the visitors is that certain key players which were not represented at bC India 2011, will be participating at the 2013 edition, such as JCB, Hyundai, Case, XCMG, Mitsubishi, Cifa and many more. Hardly any exhibitors have cancelled their participation. Nearly all other key players which trusted our brand already in 2011 will participate in 2013 again. These are for example, Caterpillar, Fayat Group, Kobelco, Liebherr, Liugong, Manitowoc, Putzmeister, Sany, Schwing Stetter, Terex, Volvo, Wirtgen and many more. Unfortunately, there is not enough space to mention all exhibitors in this interview, however, our online database is always up to date. Please download it at www.BCindia.com/en/Database

How will the 2013 edition differ from the last edition?
bC India 2013 is a special edition and it has grown tremendously, even in times of general economic slowdown. We will have more exhibition space than in 2011, more exhibitors and expect more visitors. The positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors showed us that there was a need for a construction equipment show in Mumbai and that we introduced the show at the right time.

What are the areas you have improved upon bC India 2011?
At bC India 2011, we had a long waiting list as we did not expect such a high space demand by our exhibitors. Therefore for 2013, we made sure that more exhibition space will be available. We increased the space from 88,000 to 150,000 sq m in order to accommodate more exhibitors with higher space requirements. The marketing campaigns went very well so that we can proudly say that we are on track with regard to our targets. 659 exhibitors have been allocated so far and we are going to reach our target of 700 very soon. With regards to the visitors, a survey conducted during BC India 2011 helped us to identify the channels through which most visitors were attracted to the show. Accordingly, for 2013, we focused on the successful channels in order to reach out to an even higher amount of target audience than in 2011. Just to give one example: we have increased our online marketing activities for 2013 as we found out that lots of buyers visited bC India 2011 as they learned about our show on the internet.

What is the growth percentage of exhibitors from Indian players?
Compared to 146 Indian exhibitors in 2011, 238 will be participating at the coming event which is a growth of 63 per cent and a proof that the success of bC India 2011 encouraged a lot more Indian companies to exhibit at our event ? a great result for us.

What is the number of international pavilions for bC India 2013? What is the growth percentage, compared to bC India 2011?
Just as in 2011, eight country pavilions will show technologies and innovations at bC India 2013. We will be
seeing official pavilions from China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and UK. With regard to international exhibitors in general we grew from 382 exhibitors in 2011 to 421 exhibitors at BC India 2013. The number is growing every day though.

How visitor-friendly are the stall groupings and allocation?
Compared to bC India 2011, we have two separated exhibition halls at the upcoming event. This helps us enormously in creating different clusters. Even within the halls, the same product groups are allocated together. This makes it easy for the visitor to compare products of the same segment. Please check our exhibitor database where you find all exhibitors and their locations according to their segments: www.BCindia.com/Database. In the outdoor area it is a bit more difficult to create clusters as the crane manufacturers have to be allocated away from each other in order to avoid boom collisions in case of strong winds. Safety is a very important issue for us. Helmets will be mandatory in the build-up period as well as safety ropes for workers working above three meters height. Dealers of safety equipment will be on-site to sell or hire out its helmets and safety ropes.

What has been the progress regarding online registration?
The online registration is going well. Visitors from 26 countries have already registered for bC India 2013. The big advantage of registering online is that the ticket will be free of charge. Visitors who register on-site will have to pay Rs 300 for a day pass or Rs 500 for all four show days. That helps us to keep the quality of visitors very high. Another advantage and innovation is that after registering online the visitor receives his valid ticket by email. It just needs to be printed ?and ho gaya! The process takes less than five minute.