Slowdown and terrorism mar ReIndia Expo

MUMBAI, INDIA: Global recession and terrorism cast its dark shadows on the three-day ReIndia Expo. The event for re-manufacturing industry was held in Mumbai from March 5 to 7, 2009 at the Bombay Exhibition Center (BEC).

The event, organized by USA-based Recharger Magazine in collaboration with Trade Expo India Promotion, was the first in the series of four global events to be held world-wide by the magazine this year.

Unfortunately the series did not start off with a bang.

The number of exhibitors at ReIndia this year dropped to 50 percent of the last year. Last year ReIndia had received a great response from the exhibitors with as many as 60 companies participating in the event, out of which around 36 were overseas exhibitors.

But this year, only 30 exhibitors from countries like Singapore, Japan, USA, UK and Taiwan participated in the event. The three-day event saw only 1,500 footfall. Some of the global and national leaders of re-manufacturing industry like UniNet and Indian Toners and Developers (ITD) also participated.

“Because of global slowdown and terror attacks on Mumbai, some of the global companies did not participate in the expo,” shared Veerendra Chopra of Trade Expo India Promotions.

The event was designed to motivate the growing regional industry by providing a platform for education, product launches, service offerings, peer networking and information sharing. At the end of the event, most of the exhibitors and organizers found that their objective was met.

“The cartridge re-manufacturing market in India is only five percent as of now, but it is likely to grow in the next five to 10 years. Our objective is to educate people and create awareness, and this has been achieved,” said Wendy MaRae, Lead Editor, Recharge Magazine.

The three-day event was packed with educational sessions for the exhibitors and participants. Prasanto K Roy, Chief Editor, DQ Channels spoke on environmental issues, while Luke Goldberg of Future Graphics discussed global market trends.

Proovi Chothani of Law Quest threw light on the topic of intellectual property and legal concerns, while Javier Gonzalez of UniNet talked on re-manufacturing of HP products.