An Indian company's booth at 2019 METALEX Vietnam. India and Việt Nam have great potential to enhance co-operation in the engineering sector. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Significant potential for growth in trade in the engineering sector exists between India and Việt Nam, a top Indian official has said.

Dr. K Srikar Reddy, Indian consul general in HCM City, said India has made considerable progress in engineering as shown in its record-high engineering exports over the last five years.

“Even at a time of global economic slowdown, we saw record-high engineering exports last year," Reddy said at an India-Việt Nam business interaction event held on Friday in HCM City.

"The brand value of Indian engineering has been rising rapidly in developed as well as emerging economies, while the Indian government has always been ready to make Indian exports globally competitive and to turn India into an exporter of high-value engineering products by addressing the technology gap and other concerns adequately and efficiently.”

India’s engineering exports to Việt Nam increased from US$602 million in 2014-15 to over $1.17 billion in 2018-19, he said, adding that bilateral trade in the engineering sector reached $2.5 billion in the 2018-19 period.

Ferrous and non-ferrous metals, industrial machinery, electrical machinery and automobile components are some of the main engineering commodities traded between the two countries.

Adhip Mitra, additional executive director and secretary of Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India, said that India’s share in Việt Nam’s engineering import basket was around 1.3 per cent and the Indian side wanted to increase its share.

Though trade between the two countries in engineering products has grown significantly over the past years, there is still huge potential to boost co-operation in the sector since demand for these products have increased in Việt Nam and the country has to import a significant amount, according to Reddy.

Dr. Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, lecturer at the HCM City University of Food Industry’s engineering technology faculty, said Việt Nam’s mechanical engineering industry meets only 32.5 per cent of domestic demand and is mainly dependent on imports. 

Local mechanical engineering companies mainly import milling, drilling, plasma cutting, wiring, sharpening, planning, grinding, and lathe machines, with the main suppliers from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and mainland China.

Organised by the Indian consulate, the event saw the participation of 56 Indian engineering companies led by the EEPC, who exhibited products at 2019 METALEX Vietnam in HCM City from Thursday to Saturday, together with many Vietnamese companies.

At the event, Mitra also invited Vietnamese companies to participate in India’s largest Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS IX) to be held on March 4-6 next year in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. — VNS