Canada’s Automotive Mission to India

Couple of weeks ago, I received the notification about the ‘Automotive Mission to India’. The mission is organized mainly by Automotive Parts Manufacturer’s Association (APMA, www.apma.ca ) in conjunction with Government of Canada, Province of Ontario and Export Development Canada. The nucleus of the mission is the AutoExpo happening in New Delhi from Jan 10 – 17. But then it is followed up by one on one networking sessions and other meetings.  

What caught my attention was the planning that went into this trade mission and particularly, the focus on one sector. Naturally, when companies in Canada go half way around the globe to India, they want to gather as much information and contacts as possible. But when it comes to the provincial and federal government representatives travelling to India, they have a much broader vision and it certainly helps to have a clear focus to achieve good results. I tend to agree with the organizers to have focused on the Auto sector for this year’s trade mission. 

 I did mention about the planning of this mission. There are many events that are organized that lead up to the trade mission. In June, there was a breakfast meeting on the topic of India Automotive. Early in September, the AGMs of Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA, parallel body of APMA in India) is held in New Delhi. Later in September, on the 25^th, there is a conference organized by APMA in Toronto to give the members a flavour of the Indian market. This conference, will host a few key speakers from the Indian Automotive sector. In December of this year, the APMA outlook conference will be held and in January the mission to India happens.  

As one can see, there is a six month gear up period for interested parties to learn more about the sector, its growth and potential in India and to start establishing contacts. This is the right combination of time, meetings and personnel for such an objective. I congratulate the organizers behind this task for creating the program.  In my opinion, these are the factors that are going well for this trade mission.

1.      A nice collaborative approach between the private sector and the governments (provincial and federal)

2.      Mission is driven by APMA, with support from other agencies and consultants. The key point here is, the agency that is closest to the industry/cause should be the leader of the mission and others should play a supporting role. From the outset, it seems to be the case in this mission.

3.      Lot of preparation time for sponsors, participants from both sides

4.      The conference in Toronto in September with Indian guest speakers a unique pre-mission experience for participants. Also it gives them a chance to follow up from their contacts during the actual trade mission in January 

From all the information material, it was not clear if ACMA  was also  working towards the same goal and publicizing the trade mission in India. The interest needs to be kept high on both sides of the table for good conversations to take place.  

I am looking forward to hearing some success stories from the trade mission ! Good luck to all participants and organizers ! And special thanks to Murray A Jans for all the information on the trade mission.