BANGALORE: The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA), a premier institution engaged in promoting machine tools, is establishing a world-class international exhibition centre at a cost of over Rs. 120 crore on a private-public partnership basis. The Bangalore International Exhibition Centre will be ready for inauguration in January 2007.

The centre will come up on the Bangalore-Tumkur road on 40 acres of land near the Peenya industrial township. It will be the venue for the Indian Machine Tool Exhibition (IMTEX) and will also be the venue for various events connected with the machine tool industry.

Multipurpose facilities

The centre will offer multipurpose facilities for exhibitions, product demonstrations, international seminars and skill development training and support facilities. It will house a design institute, the country's first such private institution for training young engineers on the latest in design skills, and a productivity training centre.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, Chairman of the exhibition centre Jamshyd N. Godrej, who is Chairman and Managing Director, Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd., said the complex would be named "IMTMA-Naoroji Pirojsha Godrej International Exhibition and Conference Centre." The exhibition facility in the complex would be called Bangalore International Exhibition Centre.

He said the IMTMA would invest over Rs. 40 crore in the project and the Government of India had released a grant of Rs. 35 crore. Export-Import Bank of India had provided Rs. 40 crore for the project and Rs. 10 crore as bridge loan. The Centre had also released another Rs. 15 crore, which would be used for the development of the part of the Peenya industrial area situated near the centre.

The 13th IMTEX would be held at the centre from January 18 to 24, 2007. Over 27 countries had confirmed participation in the event, apart from domestic companies. So far IMTEX has been held only in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Mr. Godrej noted that Bangalore remained the hub of the machine tool industry and accounted for 60 per cent of the production of machine tools. The city was emerging as a key manufacturing centre of Indian industry and the exhibition centre would make it a new destination for trade and fairs, he said.

Strategic partnership

The centre would be developed in strategic partnership with Deutsche Messe AG, which manages the world's largest exhibition facility in Hannover, Germany.

Mr. Godrej said the exhibition facility would have three halls without any pillars, which would provide flexibility to exhibition organisers.

The IMTMA bought the land at a concessional rate from Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), which is executing the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, Mr. Godrej said.

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