BOOMING BUSINESS AT INDIA STONEMART 2003

At the India Stonemart 2003 , the exhibitors were all smiles, with brisk business for the exhibitors, both domestic and foreign.

``We sold a `Dancing Pillar' to a UK Based buyer by the name of Pinks Hill Worldwide on the first day,'' says Ratnesh Kashyap, Managing Director of SRSL International Pvt. Ltd. The Granite `Dancing Pillars', which are unique in the sense that they do not use any mechanical or electrical help and rotate entirely by a controlled water pressure, were sold for a sum of $ 7500 per pillar. SRSL, which is a one-stop supermarket of natural stones and artifacts, was founded in 1997 and today offers a range of stone landscaping services both in terms of projects as well as turnkey assignment. ``What is much more heartening is the way the Stonemart excels in overall management in terms of the,'' says Kashyap, whose business volume at Stonemart was in excess of Rs 20 lakh.

The machine exhibitors are equally upbeat - ``All the three machines we had brought here are sold,'' says Ashok Karwa, Managing Director - Crossland Earth Movers, authorized dealers for BEML machines. They had exhibited a dozer and two 30 - ton hydraulic excavators at India Stonemart 2003. As enthused is Rishi Raj Kishore at Tata Hitachi, who felt that coming to the expo has been very useful for them.

The second day of the `Buyer Seller Meet' at Stonemart 2003 saw a very enthusiastic response with delegations from Germany, Canada, China, USA, Russia, Nigeria, Turkey and the UAE coming in today. Over 120 one - to - one business meeting were held, which were scheduled on the basis of matching business interests. Various business proposals related to export of marble, granite, slate, sandstone, handicrafts and artifacts were on the agenda here. These discussions resulted in eight collaborations worth US $ three million, which were signed here. More than 15 more agreements are in the final stages of being signed, which are mainly in the fields of market access, equipment purchase etc.

The Indo - Italian Co - Operation Programme, a joint effort between the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Government of India, is present at Stonemart to promote it's `Italian Line of Credit'. ``These are loans for selected sectors like Leather, Electronics, Plastics, Mechanical, Automobile Components and highly specialized sectors like Marble and Granite Processing and extraction,'' said Sunil Bali, Senior Branch Manager - The National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. Business has been good for them here - They have generated over 25 serious inquiries worth approximately Rs 25 Crores.

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