The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday opened its first-ever Taiwan Expo in New Delhi to help Taiwanese firms expand their footprints in the Indian market.
The three-day event, which ends tomorrow, is the first business-to-business exhibition held by the government-backed trade promotion agency in India and features eight industry-themed pavilions showcasing Taiwanese niche products.
The pavilions exhibit design ideas including electric vehicles (EV) and smart city solutions, and echo the Indian government’s push to boost the country’s economic and digital development, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) told a news conference before the opening ceremony of the exhibition at the India Trade Promotion Organization’s Pragati Maidan exhibition venue.
“India will sell only EVs by 2030 and that indicates a huge potential market [for Taiwanese companies],” Huang said, adding that Taiwan’s position in the supply chain of US-based Tesla Inc gives it an advantage over global rivals.
Taiwanese companies have successfully entered India’s emerging EV supply chains, Huang said, citing the example of Kaohsiung-based electric scooter maker Ahamani EV Technology Co Ltd (其昜).
Ahamani is today to sign a memorandum of understanding with Hero Electric to jointly promote electric models in the country via the Indian company’s nationwide distribution channels.
Hero Electric is the electric arm of the Hero Group, which also owns Hero MotoCorp, India’s biggest two-wheeler maker.
The company has been talking with Indian customers since 2016, Ahamani chief executive officer Chi T.C. Kung (龔子琪) told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of the exhibition, adding that India is a rapidly growing market with annual sales of about 20 million motorcycles.
“It is not very easy for EV suppliers to enter the Indian market...you have to provide electric models that can compete with diesel-powered ones, but at affordable prices,” Kung said.
Ahamani and Hero plan to manufacture 100,000 electric motorcycles in India over the next four years, she said.
Among its other efforts to connect the two economies, TAITRA said it is to next month lead a team of Taiwanese auto components makers on a trip to India and is organizing an event themed Smart Asia in Bengaluru from Oct. 4 to Oct. 6.
Taiwan ranked as India’s 18th-largest trade partner last year, when bilateral trade totaled US$6.3 billion, TAITRA statistics showed.
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