India is next best destination for global manufacturers, opines MMCI’s Sardeshmukh

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2015-03-03 15:00:41

The Director of MMC Hardmetal India Pvt Ltd, Mr Prashant Sardeshmukh believes that the Indian industry is increasingly getting matured in recent times. The casual approach or “Chalta Hai” attitude is swiftly fading away and every Indian now understands importance of his or her individual contribution for the overall development of the society. “In manufacturing industry, most global players are looking at India as the next best investment destination and are shifting their manufacturing facilities in our country. This shows their confidence about India,” Mr Sardeshmukh said while speaking to CNCTimes at IMTEX 2015 in Bengaluru.

Mr Sardeshmukh said, “India has very good talent and culture which is been accepted worldwide. Now globally people believe that if you want to do any intelligent work then Indians are best at it. Though China is known for its speed of execution or low cost of production, but when it comes to applying intellects, Indians are preferred world over. This has become a major advantage for India.”

He said MMCI Hardmetal India Pvt Ltd is a solution provider for metal cutting industry since its Indian operations began in August 2006, prior to which it was a representative office of Singapore-based MNC from 1999. “With our headquarters in Bengaluru, we have branch offices at Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai and soon-to-open office in Ahmedabad. Currently, we are providing solutions to Indian market through our two warehouses. One is a duty paid warehouse which supplies tools to the domestic manufacturers while the second is a private bonded warehouse meant for supplying products to companies falling in special economic zones or export oriented units,” Mr Sardeshmukh said.

“Our company slogan is ‘We are your reliable partners for better productivity and superior business performance’ and through this, MMCI is creating a win-win situation for customers as well as the industry. This is being done through 16 distributors that provide everything from products to services. Besides, we have customer support engineers situated at almost every industrial location. They are supported by product specialists who offer complete solutions for Die & Mould, Aerospace, Automotive, Energy, Oil & Gas, Medical Engineering and other industrial sectors,” he said.

The company recently launched its double sided high positive face milling cutter, new range of solid carbide and indexable insert type drills, stainless steel turning inserts series, a wide variety of inserts for difficult-to-cut materials and new turning grades for cast iron machining at JIMTOF in Japan. The same were displayed at IMTEX 2015. “We expected more customers to come to our stall in IMTEX and go back with a good image not only about the company, but also the fair. IMTMA is working hard to improve its image and doing everything it can but we expect more from them. The association has promised us that in IMTEX 2017 all the concerns will be addressed and there will be no space reduction for the exhibitors as the customers comes to have a look at what is new on offer and if we have less space, we can’t display our entire range,” Mr Sardeshmukh said.

On current market scenario, Mr Sardeshmukh said that the country has world class manufacturers and it is working hand-in-hand with global players. “We make tools for the future and are ready but the number of machines which can justify functioning of these tools are far lower in India compared to other markets. Our domestic industry is growing but it is yet to get used for making optimum use of high end tools. Many are still working on old machines and it’s a challenge to prove new technology tools on such machines. This is the area where we have to ponder upon to match global manufacturing standards,” he said and added that the Indian customers are extremely price sensitive and on every global platform it is being discussed whether or not it is essential to have a differential pricing policy for developing countries like India.

As far as future growth is concerned, Mr Sardeshmukh said that MMCI has its Vision 2020 in place which the company will achieve not only in terms of sales figures but also corporate goals such as increasing the brand value, partnering with customers for their success, Corporate Social Responsibility etc.

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