India successfully completed its participation as "Partner Country" in Hannover Messe 2015 held from 13-17 April 2015 at Hannover. India's participation at the fair was coordinated by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and overseen by the Engineering Export Promotion Council India (EEPC India), the largest Export Promotion Council in India set up by the Government of India in 1955 for promotion of engineering sector and act as an interface between the engineering industry and the Government. EEPC India, designated as the lead agency to coordinate the fair, was supported by CII, FICCI and IBEF. The efforts were closely coordinated with support from the Indian Embassy in Berlin. The fair was jointly inaugurated by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Mr Nardendra Modi along with Dr Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany.

India participated as the "Partner Country" at Hannover Messe Fairs after 9 years. In 2006, India was the "Partner Country" at the fair. Organised by Deutsche Messe AG, Hannover Messe is a global powerhouse of innovations and investments, the world's number one Industrial Technology Expo and the leading dialogue hub for business and Government leaders.

To substantiate the participation of the exhibitors at the fair, EEPC India had launched B2B Portal to facilitate the business networking of the participating companies.

Indian participation at the fair was based on "Make in India" theme with extensive branding of the campaign in the Hannover city and on the fair grounds. Extensive publicity and branding of India's participation as "Partner Country" at Hannover Messe 2015 was handled by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The participation was organised on Decentralised Exhibition and Satellite concept - The centralised pavilion had official central meeting place with additional designated areas for Group Pavilions and Individual Exhibitors within the relevant industrial sectors.

Key elements of India's participation as "Partner Country" this year:

• Participation of 352 exhibitors spread across 10 sectoral halls in a total area of 5000 sq.m
• 8 Government of India Ministries/Departments participating through 6 sectoral seminars. The focused topics of the seminars were Digital India, Heavy Engineering, Electricals & Electronics, Skill India, Renewable Energy & Smart Cities.
• 15 State Governments participation, i.e., Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Telangana and Boards - Tea Board, Coffee Board & Spices Board
• 6 State Seminars.
• 120 Top CEOs.
• State Pavilions highlighting Industrial, Investment and Technology opportunities. Pavilion from Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Department of Electronics & Technology Information (DeitY), Department of Bio-Technology (DBT) and Department of Tourism.

Major statistics Hannover Mess 2015

• 6500 exhibitors from over 70 countries
• 2,20,000 trade visitors including 70,000 visitors from Germany, and
• 150 Business delegations.

India's participation at the fair saw focused business activities and networking on the sidelines of the show. Following major Letter of Intents, MoUs and contracts were signed:

Government to Government

• Letter of Intent between the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development, Govt of Germany and the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Govt of India on Indo German Solar Partnership
• Joint Declaration of Intent on Sustainable Urban Development between the Ministry of Urban Development, Govt of India and the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Reactor Safety, and
• Letter of Intent between the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development, Govt of Germany and the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship of Govt of India on Indo-German Skill Development Project.

Business to Business

• MoU between EEPC India and BVMW - The German Association for Small and Medium Sized Businesses to promote trade and investment and development of business relations between India and Germany
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Russian Joint Stock Company (INTMA) for upcoming projects in Rajasthan and Kazakhstan
• Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd (REIL) and Milkotronics Ltd, Bulgaria for manufacturing milk analysers
• Instrumentation Limited and KE Kauer Engineering, Germany for production of control valves
• Vikram Solar with: (i) Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, (ii) Meyer Burger and (iii Centrotherm for setting up a solar academy in India and optimisation of module production technology
• Three MoUs by Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) with: (i) Num Controls, Switzerland for manufacturing of CNC controls, systems and drives; (ii) FT Machine Tools, Germany for collaborating on flow forming machines; and (iii) Enit GmbH, Germany for total Engineering Solutions
• 2 MOUs were signed by HEC: (i) HEC signed an MOU with Kirow Adelt GmbH of Leipzig for manufacture of Railway Cranes. Kirow is the market leader of Railway cranes in the world. HEC has signed the understanding of manufacture and supply of cranes to Indian market particularly to Indian Railways and Steel Authority of India. HEC has signed for manufacture of railway cranes for the lifting capacities ranging from 25tonnes to 160 tonne. This will give HEC an advantage to offer a complete portfolio of cranes apart from custom made EOT cranes, which HEC is already making for different customers; and (ii) HEC signed the second MOU for promoting Vocational education and Training with Europe India foundation for excellence of Belgium This will help HEC to undertake, finance, co-produce research, education and other activities to promote the idea of skill development in the state of Jharkhand by developing HTI as centre of excellence.
• Essel Group with: (i) Wind and Sun Technology Group/FeCon GmbH to develop 12500 MW of Solar and 4000 MW of Wind Energy Projects in India; (ii) Passavant Energy and Environment (PE&E) for water and waste water treatment projects; (iii) Schneider Electric GmbH to develop smart city projects in India; (iv) Fichtner GmbH & Co to provide comprehensive interdisciplinary range of engineering and consultancy services in areas of energy, water, sanitation, infrastructure, IT and consultancy on the implementation; and (v) Smart Grids-Platform Baden-Wuertemberg to act as facilitator in linking the energy networks for Essel group.
• MoU between Roots Group India and Neander Motors, Germany for transfer of technology and Joint Venture for production of a very high-end latest technology, Twin Cranks, Diesel Engine with varied applications in Auto Marine Energy, etc. (0.6 million Euros).
• iPLON signed an MoU with Welspun Renewables in the area of Green Energy Commitment.
• MOU between IEEMA and ZVEI to promote and develop the electrical equipment industry in respective domains.
• MOU between IEEMA & European Business & Technology Centre (EBTC) to explore mutually beneficial collaborative relationship with regard to connecting Indian and European players in electrical sector especially in smart, micro & intelligent grids & renewable technology sub-sector.

Others

• Declaration of Interest for Cooperation in the field of Vocational Education & Training between Directorate General of Employment & Training, DGET, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt of India and the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), and
• MoU between Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Hannover Milano Trade Fairs India (HMFI) to organise a platform to discuss & showcase new solutions and innovations in urban development in 2015-16.