Demtech India and IDA Annual Convention Set for September 2023
Published: 10/10, 2022
After the success in November 2019, Indian Demolition Association has decided to hold its second annual Demtech convention and trade show next fall.
In November 2019, the first Indian demolition tradeshow, Demtech, took place in Mumbai, India. The event coincided with the organization of the country’s first demolition association. The event was seen as major success being attended by more 250 people, with many speakers covering international subjects of interest. Event sponsors included Volvo India, Epiroc, Hilti, Brokk, Aquajet Systems, Sennebogen, Husqvarna, Edifice, Pentruder, Shearcore, Kemroc, Kobelco, and Tyrolit. They were joined in the exhibit hall by Trevi Benne, Rotar, Demarec, Schwing Stetter, Hydrotec, Philtec E & C PTE, SDT Sanwa, Indo-Spark, Terex, and Wirtgen Group. The next annual convention was planned for 2020 but was put back due to the coronavirus pandemic. The IDA board of directors has met regularly over the past three years, organizing digital webinars. At a board meeting in June, the IDA board of directors decided the time was right to bring back Demtech, setting the event for September 28-29, 2023 in Bengaluru, Karnataka in southern India. The venue for the convention and tradeshow is White Petals Palace Grounds, right in the heart of the city.
PDa’s Jan Hermansson recently spoke to Mohan Ramanathan, managing director of ACT, Advanced Construction Technologies in Chennai, and founder and current IDA president. Ramanathan recalls that in in 2019, demolition in the country was really not an industry, but rather “fragmented with mostly foreign manufacturers and Indian contractors.” Ramanathan adds that, besides a few domestic tool manufactures, most of the important equipment is imported, which makes the investment high. What’s more, very few demolition contractors have undergone formal training, with most learning techniques on the jobsite.
“Demtech 2019 brought some visibility and respect to the business and the convention and tradeshow in itself was the starting point of the Indian demolition industry,” Ramanathan says. “Unfortunately, Covid-19 set us back and we lost the advantage of the event and the traction it could have given.”
Sales of construction machinery and equipment is picking up
In terms of sales of construction equipment, and sales in general, Indias market was very much down in 2019 and early 2020. Yet from Q3 2020 through last year, sales of machinery started to pick up again, with the sales of spare parts also being good. Ramanathan notes that the Indian government also announced huge spending on infrastructure, and this gave a boost to machine sales in 2021.
“We are very optimistic about sales in 2022,” he says. “The main drivers are new highways, high speed railways, ports, and airports. There is also an increase of new production facilities all over as many investors are looking at moving out of China to India.”
Ramanathan is optimistic about the future for the Indian demolition industry.
“It actually looks very bright and with IDA we have something very good going,” he says. “There are tons of infrastructural projects in the loop thanks to the governmental spending on infrastructure in the country. There are also a number of modernization projects on production plants that also will generate a lot of jobs.”
In terms of contractors working in demolition and advanced concrete cutting, the numbers have not changed that much during the last two years. According to Ramanathan, there are around 10 large demolition contractors, approximately 200 medium to large contractors, and 500 or so smaller companies spread across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently told the BRICS Business Forum that India is expecting a 7.5% economic growth rate 2022.
“To deal with the economic problems arising out of the pandemic, we adopted the mantra of ‘Reform, Perform and Transform’ in India and the result of this approach is evident from the performance of the Indian economy,” he said
For that reason, Ramanathan thinks that next IDA convention and Demtech tradeshow are being organized at the perfect time.
“I convinced that we will see even a bigger attendance than last time,” he says. “The word about the successful meet in November 2019 has been spread well which will attract an even bigger audience.”
Ramanathan also hopes that even more international manufacturers will exhibit at the Demtech trade show. He welcomes manufacturers to become sponsors of the event and the sponsorship program has already started up. There will also be an even greater opportunity for exhibitors and sponsors to make presentations at the convention. As in 2019 PDa and PDi Magazines will be the official partner of the convention and the tradeshow.