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TCS, Infy to take up square footage at Hannover fair

Mistry, Sikka to lead teams as IT biggies get set to exhibit for the first time
Last Updated 31 March 2015, 18:00 IST

Leading Indian corporates and their leaders are making a beeline to Hannover Messe 2015, the world’s largest industrial fair, where India is the partner country this year.

Around 120 CEOs and a 100-strong delegation of ministers and bureaucrats are expected to accompany Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to inaugurate the fair on April 12 along with German chancellor Angela Merkel.

An interesting aspect of this year’s event is the presence of IT (information technology) biggies TCS and Infosys, which are exhibiting at the fair for the first time.

Their respective teams would be led by Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and Infosys Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka, according to Mehul Lanvers-Shah, the managing director of Hannover Milano Fairs India. The company is  the Indian arm of Deutsche Messe, which organises the Hannover Messe.

He said each exhibiting company would normally have a delegation of up to 14 members. According to him, both Infosys and TCS are currently not announcing what they are planning to showcase at the event. But he anticipates the likelihood of new launches at the show. When contacted, TCS declined to comment since it is currently in the silent period ahead of its quarterly results. Infosys too cited the silent period for its inability to respond to this story in a timely manner.

To provide some context, this year around 400 Indian companies, including some well-known names, are participating at Hannover Messe to make the most of the higher profile for India as the partner country. This is in contrast to the usual presence of 100-150 participants, mostly drawn from the small and medium enterprises (SME). Around 6,000 exhibitors, and buyers drawn from around 100 countries, are participating at Hannover Messe 2015.

Besides the Prime Minister’s presence and the partner status of India, one reason for the decision by Infosys and TCS to take up square footage at Hannover could be the connect with this year’s central theme of integrated industries. Lanvers-Shah said it “marries precision engineering with high-tech technology, especially machine-to- machine communication and IoT (internet of things)”.

It was at Hannover Messe in 2011 that the German engineering federation, also known as VDMA, announced the Industrie 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution project of the German government. It visualises bringing into existence the Smart Factory of tomorrow, tapping the internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing.

Lanvers-Shah said Hannover Messe 2015 will give Infosys and TCS a venue to showcase Indian advances in the Industrie 4.0 theme. “From a user’s perspective, and from the business value perspective, this is going to give India a very big edge over competitors in terms of portraying itself as an intelligent future factory that will be showcased at Hannover,” he told Deccan Herald.

He confirmed that Sanjiv Goenka (RP Sanjiv-Goenka Group), Ravi Uppal (Jindal Steel and Power), Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI), AM Naik (L&T), TK Kurien (Wipro), and Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge) are some of the other CEOs who are attending Hannover Messe.

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(Published 31 March 2015, 18:00 IST)

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