Creating a global platform to promote biz in India

This week for our weekly edition of Community Wise, The Pioneer connects with the founder chairman of TPCI, who speaks about what the organisation holds for us in the future.

Shikha Duggal

he Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) is an apex trade and investment promotion organisation notified in the Foreign Trade Policy. Also recognised by the Department of Commerce of India, they work towards facilitating the growth of the industry with global investment and trade opportunities.The council provides strategies for expanding business internationally, by organising specialised business events and simultaneously working with the government, which is essentially based on inputs collated from research and industry stakeholders.

One such business event was recently held in our city too, and the founder chairman of TPCI addressed how more European supermarkets are aware of our food and ingredients than before! We took a lucky chance to learn what the organisation holds for us in the future.

Mohit Singla said, “Trade Promotion Council of India organises a number of tailor-made industry exhibitions, business delegations, and buyer-seller-meets for industry across sectors and strategic markets around the year. At the same time, it also facilitates inward investments and B2B collaboration opportunities for these companies through specially curated platforms.

Our efforts are especially focused on SMEs and startups, as we recognise their key role in boosting India’s foreign trade and also providing the economy with much-needed dynamism! Our trade and investment promotion activities are highly outcome-based, with careful selection of participants so that these companies can exploit the most lucrative opportunities to scale up and expand their international footprint.”

Moving ahead, he articulated how, in this era of grave competition, it is most important to understand global business. It is crucial to achieve sustainable growth! In order to be competitive and emerge as a global player in business promotion, they provide customised compilation and analysis of global, country-specific, and industry-specific trade data to their members on demand. “Services exports have indeed grown impressively in the post-liberalisation period. The sector remains a strong pillar of the Indian economy and has contributed positively to our trade deficit.

Despite global economic uncertainty, India’s services exports increased by nearly 28% year on year to reach US$ 235.8 billion between April and December 2022.The government is confident that India’s service exports will exceed $300 billion this fiscal year. IT/ITeS services continue to be a major component of our services trade, accounting for around 2/3 of services exports last fiscal year! Our strengths in IT services hold India in good stead in the era of Industry 4.0. But at the same time, there is enormous untapped potential in a number of other service sectors like tourism, healthcare, business consulting, education, architecture, etc. that we need to realise going forward,” added the founder and chairman.

With an objective to showcase art as a powerful tool of cultural and economic outreach, they organised ‘Festival of India’ in various countries to promote our culture and broaden the wings of the arts to spread awareness globally through the various cultural activities, including contemporary and modern arts. The Trade Promotion Council of India, in partnership with Gallerie Nvya, is proposing to organise an art exhibition of the works of prominent modern artists scheduled to be held in Paris in February.

The founder chairman continued, “Trade Promotion Council of India has established its credentials as a professional and result-driven trade promotion platform for businesses in a short span of time. Indusfood, which is our flagship annual event, is now South Asia’s largest integrated trade show for the F&B and food technology industries.

It has become the sole catalyst for robust growth in India’s processed food exports by ensuring direct linkages for Indian F&B exporters with global buyers. Our strategy going forward will be multi-pronged to address the critical challenges facing Indian industry and help them exploit opportunities.”

The Trade Promotion Council of India and IBPC Dubai, with the support of the Consulate General of India in Dubai, also organised a hybrid discussion on healthcare and wellness. Panelists focused on the changing paradigms in healthcare, the learnings from COVID, the major provisions for the sector under the  CEPA agreement, and the emerging focus areas of holistic wellness and affordable healthcare. Besides this, the discussion also focused on India’s ongoing efforts to achieve self-reliance in medical devices and the prospects of collaboration with the UAE in this regard.

He also mentioned, “To be frank, the success of Indusfood and the response from the industry have exceeded our expectations. Our exhibitors as well as delegates from across the globe were greatly enthused by the pleasant hospitality, dynamic business environment, rich culture, and positive overall experience of Hyderabad city.

The transformation of Hyderabad’s infrastructure and amenities over a short span of time has aptly positioned it as a ‘city of the future’! The change is there for all to see, and we would definitely like to consider Hyderabad for our future business events.”