The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Houston Partnership conducted a Business-to-Business forum for the rubber delegation on October 12th, 2001. The delegation was hosted by CAPEXIL, formerly known as the Chemical and Allied Products Export Council. The Ministry Of Commerce, Government of India, sponsors CAPEXIL.
The four-member delegation represented Polymer products, Synthetic Rubber and Rubber products manufactured in India. The four delegates were Mr. M.F. Vohra, Managing Partner of Zenith Rubber and Plastic Works based in Mumbai, Mr. Vipin Kalra, Vice Chairman of Ravasco Transmission and Packing & Hindustan Rubbers also based in Mumbai, Mr. Kannan Sachindra, Director of Marketing for Vajra Rubber Products based in Kerala and Mr. S.K.Ray, Executive Director of CAPEXIL based in Calcutta.
Mr. Jagdip Ahluwalia, Vice-President of IACCGH, welcomed the delegates to the forum and asked Dr. Hade, Deputy Consul General, to introduce the delegates. Mr. Vohra opened the forum by speaking for the group and the purpose of their visit in general. He said he was impressed with Houston and saw great potential for a “two way trade.” In 1991 India opened up its domestic market and put up a lot of pull factors to encourage foreign investors. He pointed out India is the 3rd largest rubber producing country with annually producing 630,000 tons of rubber. As an added incentive duty on rubber has been brought down significantly. Indian rubber is a small-scale industry
SBR(Styrene Butadiene Rubber) is the key substance in a lot of rubber by-products. Duradene solution SBR also can be used in a wide variety of non-tire applications that benefit from Duradene polymer’s unique characteristics. Eg; Flooring, Sheet rubber goods, Conveyer belts, Shoe products, etc. The delegation suggested that India was open to investors from here setting up a SBR plant to meet the 75,000- 100,000 tons of SBR production need. All the members of CAPEXIL are ISO certified and meet all the guideline of Environment regulation Certification.
The delegation was here to explore trade opportunities for the rubber industry. Mr. Kalra exports to Europe, Latin America and Australia and would like to enter the US market. Mr. Kannan Sachindra, a young upcoming businessman, was proud to list his company�s achievements in state of the art custom molding. His company supplies Rocket seals- GSLB Mark 3 and Flexi, which is a sealant on rockets. He said they have bright people with a lot of drive to succeed. They need people who will pay a percentage of the order upfront instead of expecting everything on credit. They have an in-house tool room and need only a print out of a mold to manufacture the unit.
Mr. S.K.Ray pointed out that service sectors have grown at a rapid pace and in the next 4 to 5 years it will account for 50 billion dollars in export. CAPEXIL encourages and works with the following industries: Minerals, Books, Ceramics, Rubber, and Glassware. He ended by saying India has the potential to be a hub for the book publishing industry.