Date:24/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/24/stories/2006022421550300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Machine tool industry fair begins

Staff Reporter

It's a platform for Indian companies to interact with foreign players

STEERING INTO NEW AREAS: Visitors at a stall of Asian Machine Tool Exhibition "Amtex-2006" in Bangalore on Thursday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: Amtex 2006, a machine tool and engineering industrial exposition, was inaugurated on Thursday by Minister for Small Scale Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu at Palace Grounds here.

Over 800 participants are from India and abroad are showcasing their products, which includes live demos and provides opportunities to facilitate one-to-one business deals.

"For the domestic industry, Amtex 2006 will provide a platform to forge links with their foreign counterparts in terms of sales and technology," said Managing Director of Tirune Exhibitors Cyril Pereira.

"This is the fourth such industrial fair in succession registering a high percentage of growth in participation annually and this growth is a testimony of the popularity of the exposition," he said.

The exhibition includes certain special features such as non-conventional sources of energy, power savers, robotic action on display, application of software in machine tools and a variety of engineering tools. The five-day event will include technical conferences and seminars. "Bangalore, the hub for Indian machine tools, accounts for 50 per cent of the production of machine tools and so we expect a good response from the industrialists," said S.N. Mishra, Chief Executive Officer of BFW Ltd. Chairman and Managing Director of National Small Industries Corporation H.P. Kumar, Managing Director of HMT Ltd. A.D Kammat, President of Coddisha J. Balu and Managing Director of Vijayanand were present. The exhibition will be on till Monday.