EEPC celebrates 50th year of Engineering Exports Awards

Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) celebrates and completes 50 years of rewarding exporters through the Engineering Exports Awards this year. Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Civil Aviation, and Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, felicitated 111 winners with national awards for 2017–2018 in New Delhi, across 8 categories in over 32 product panels. It was also for the first time that the Quality Council of India (QCI) was invited to evaluate EEPC member companies, and 7 winners were honoured with the EEPC India-QCI Quality awards. On this occasion, Ravi Sehgal, Chairman, EEPC, addressed the gathering. Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, and other industry representatives were present as well.

Speaking at the event, Puri congratulated EEPC for completing 50 years of rewarding exporters and complemented the winners. Further, he commended the EEPC for reaching record high exports of $76 billion in 2017–18 and $87 billion in 2018–19, and hoped that by next year India’s engineering exports will reach the target of $1 trillion.

Puri also urged the engineering sector, which employs around 40 lakh workers, to get abreast with global engineering standards by adopting new technology to upgrade their core efficiency, improve their competency, and achieve cost competitiveness. He exhorted the engineering industries to establish smart factories for optimum use of land, labour, and capital. He further added that since 55 per cent of EEPC members are MSMEs, they must also strategise to upgrade their technology and production profile in order to enter the global value chain.

Puri informed the gathering about the various measures taken by the Government of India and the Department of Commerce and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to simplify, bring in greater transparency in the export procedures, and enhance credit and insurance to exporters. The DGFT has put in place a fully electronic refund module and online filing and issuance of preferential certificate of origin. A web portal of the industrial schemes of different ministries of the Government of India is also available to the engineering industries, and the NIRVIK scheme has been announced to ensure enhanced loan availability for exporters.

Finally, he also urged exporters to tap emerging markets like Africa and countries of the CIS, Latin America and the GCC, and thereby ensure that by 2025, India’s engineering exports will reach a target of $200 billion.