The machine tool industry in India has seen sustained performance in recent quarters despite a slowdown in the overall economy.

"The last two quarters have shown signs of improvement in order inflow.

"The key user industries such as the automobile, auto components, defence, aerospace and power are set to fuel the growth of the Indian machine tool industry,” said L. Krishnan, President of the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association’s (IMTMA) and Managing Director of TaeguTec India P Ltd. The industry’s current market size stands at $2.05 billion of which the domestic production makes for around 33 per cent of the total consumption.

IMTMA will organise the IMTEX Forming 2014, a business-to-business exhibition of forming technologies, in Bangalore on January 23-28.

Key countries taking part in the expo are Australia, Germany, France, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden, Japan, Thailand, the UK, and the US. “The exhibition will also have group participation from China, Czech Republic, Germany and Taiwan,” said Krishnan.

High-level domestic delegations from ISRO, BHEL, DRDO, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Naval Dockyard will also participate, he added.

The expo is expected to provide comprehensive offering for industries such as aerospace, automobiles, auto component, defence, capital goods, electrical and electronics, earth moving and construction and food processing and dairy equipment.

Sharing his views on the sector, Shailesh Sheth, former president of IMTMA, said: “Over the years, IMTEX has been a driving force for the exponential growth of Indian machine tool industry. The key emphasis of the expo is to enable manufacturing excellence through superior technologies, productivity and cost-competitiveness.”