The German engineering and machinery industry operating in India is trying to save its market share from an aggressively spreading Chinese counterpart, according to its liaison group, VDMA.
In the last decade, Chinese machinery suppliers grew from a bare presence to hogging the largest market pie of 23 per cent in India, dislodging older German players to the second place and 16 per cent of total sales, said Ulrich Ackermann, Managing Director, Foreign Trade for VDMA, the German short form for the German Engineering Federation.
Now, the 400-strong German engineering companies in India would increase their local involvement just as they would in other export markets, he said. “We are compelled more than ever before to closely observe and analyse the activities of our Chinese competitors in export markets like India,” Mr. Ackermann said at the second VDMA summit here.
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Chinese companies sold machinery worth Rs.31,000 crore in this market in 2011 against just Rs.560 crore in 2002. The German machinery industry made business worth Rs.26,000 crore in 2012. Engineering exports in the first six months declined by 15 per cent to Rs.10,800 crore.