New Delhi: The ninth Auto Expo 2008, which opened on 10 January at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, came to a close today with a joint address by industry bodies and organisers Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). They indicated a business generation of over Rs20,000 crore in the past eight days.

Speaking at the concluding session of the Auto Expo '08, Gurpal Singh, deputy director general CII, said, "The Auto Expo 2008 was the biggest yet in terms of size, number of participants, visitors turn-out and business, and added that the auto show attracted almost 1.8 million visitors and generated business worth about Rs20,000 crore."

Against this, the auto show of 2006 had attracted one million visitors, and yielded business worth Rs540 crore.
Singh said that of the 1,200 exhibitors surveyed, 50 per cent admitted to have generated business during the Auto Expo 2008. Based on the number of exhibitors who shared information, it is estimated that approximately Rs20,000 crores worth of business was generated.

The auto show also saw over 9,000 trade enquiries, with 66 per cent inquiries being generated by business visitors, 21 per cent by foreign visitors, around 4 per cent by co-exhibitors, and 8 per cent by general visitors.
Singh added that over 100 MOUs were signed during this period. While 59 per cent of MOUs were inked with business visitors, 27 per cent were with foreign visitors, and about 14 per cent with co-exhibitors.

Giving a perspective on auto components Vishnu Mathur, executive director, ACMA said, ''30 international delegations, from Germany, France, Japan, Spain and Canada and others, showed a keen interest in Indian Auto Component sector. The Indian auto component industry has the potential to earn around 50 per cent or $20-25 billion of its revenues from exports by 2015 when the domestic market is projected to be $40 billion.''

Dilip Chenoy, SIAM director general, said: ''This auto show really indicated the potential of the automobile industry in India in terms of novel products, including the Nano from Tata Motors, which is not only low cost but extremely environment friendly. This showed India's intellectual and technological capabilities and attracted the global attention more vigorously than ever. Participants together with visitors have put Auto Expo on the global map.''

The Auto Expo 2008 also focused on design element and eco-friendly technology in the automotive world, apart from launching new global models, striking business deals and getting huge export orders. He said 94 per cent of the exhibitors said they would recommend their companies to participate in the 10th Auto Expo, though the dates and exact venue for the forthcoming event are yet to be finalised.