The environmental sector in India has been gaining momentum and has been growing exponentially every year. How has this impacted IFAT India over the years? What are your expectations regarding number of exhibitors for this year's trade fair?

As per the World Bank, India has made a substantial effort in attempting to address environmental challenges. It has endorsed rigorous environmental legislation and has created relevant institutions to monitor and enforce legislation. In response to the threat of climate change, the Prime Minister’s National Council on Climate Change issued India’s first comprehensive National Action Plan. All the roads are now leading towards identification of solutions which enable environment conservation.

As one of the contributors, we at Messe Muenchen India have been bringing the thought leaders, technology providers and government officials together at one platform to offer right technologies.

IFAT India is a leading environmental technologies exhibition, and each year we bring more than 200 key technology providers from more than 19 countries who showcase solutions for water, sewage, solid waste and recycling. At the upcoming edition, scheduled for October 15-17, 2018 at Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai – companies such as Larsen & Toubro, Suez Water Technologies and Solutions, Kirloskar Brothers, LG Chem, Lanxess India, Wilo Mather and Platt Pumps, Wipro Enterprises, Jay Water Management, Astral Poly Technik, CNIM Martin, Naturetech Enviro Protection, Xylem Water Solutions India, Ion Exchange (India), among many more are going to showcase their latest offerings.

We are pleased to be associated with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, also known as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which is the governing civic body of Mumbai. We welcome them as a Co-Host Partner of IFAT India 2018.

IFAT India has been offering numerous networking platforms to its attendees. How do you plan to achieve this in the coming edition? How will you be facilitating the engagement to ensure actual business transpires?

Each year, we bring informative and compelling supporting programs to enhance the visiting experience of our attendees. Our key supporting programs include Innovation Exchange Forum, Active Learning Center, Business-to-Government (B2G) and Buyer Seller Forum.

Designed to deliberate and exchange ideas and highlight solutions for a sustainable Water, Waste & Resource Management in India, the Innovation Exchange forum features key notes and panel discussions. Active Learning Center on the other hand is a place to experience and explore innovations by our exhibitors, see products in practice and learn about latest technologies in a face-to-face discussion with the presenters.

The agenda of these conferences will be shortly announced and will be open to all professionals.

A new addition to our supporting programs would be the ‘Buyer-Seller Forum’, where our exhibitors and visitors will get a chance to pre-schedule their meetings. This will mean even higher return on investments (ROI) for our exhibitors and higher return on time invested (ROTI) for our visitors.

New technologies are being introduced to the market every day, what are the recent cutting edge technological developments in the environmental and water treatment industry that will be showcased and demonstrated at the trade fair?

The trade fair will showcase the environment industry’s most comprehensive range of products and services in the region, the latest state-of-the-art technology and a wide range of superior-quality services for all sub-sectors of the environment industry. The current demand is largely driven by commercial and industrial sectors, followed by Municipal corporations and the government. You can expect to see the latest technologies for these sectors mainly focusing on water extraction and treatment, sewage treatment, water distribution and sewers, solid waste disposal and recycling, energy from waste materials, air pollution control and other allied technologies.

IFAT India features several international pavilions, where exhibitors showcased innovation and technical expertise from their countries. How many country pavilions are you expecting to be added to this edition of the exhibition?

IFAT India is expecting participation from more than 19 countries namely – Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Columbia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA and India. The trade fair will showcase various country pavilions including China, Germany, Korea and Switzerland. We are definitely looking forward for wider country pavilion participation expecting a wider spectrum of technologies at this edition.

With the exponential growth in spending on environmental technologies in the emerging markets, how well do you think the indigenous industry participants will be benefited?

Water and wastewater is the most promising sub-sector in India’s environmental segment. This accounts for 26% of India’s environmental technologies industry, and is expected to grow at 13-15% every year over the next five years. Procurement is almost equally split between government and the private sector projects. However, sales to the industrial sector are growing at a higher rate. The government is primarily involved in the treatment of raw water, water transmission and distribution and sewage treatment operations. The private sector industries in power, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, refineries and textiles sectors are generating immense opportunities for water and wastewater treatment equipment.

We invite the industries to IFAT India as they prefer advanced treatment technological systems for treating their wastewater. With presence of new technologies and customizable solutions, we are optimistic about the business, networking and learning taking place at IFAT India 2018.