CONEBI joins hand with FICO to Promote Indian Bicycle Industry in Europe

Ludhiana, March 28, 2019: Delegation of the FICO (Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organization) during its visit in Taipei Cycle Show 2019, visited CONEBI (Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry). Both FICO & CONEBI have joined hands to Promote Indian Bicycle Industries in Europe. Manuel Marsilio (GM) who represented CONEBI welcomed FICO delegation under the Chairmanship of S. Gurmeet Singh Kular President along with S. Manjinder Singh Sachdeva General Secretary FICO, and had a detailed discussion about the Bicycle & Bicycle Parts Manufacturing industry of India, with the FICO officials. S. Manjinder Singh Sacheva General Secretary FICO said that in India there are about 4,000 SME's in our industry employ over 1 million people. Many of these companies are very small as the eight biggest companies in the Industry have a market share of 90%. Looking at the e-bike market, the number of companies involved in this category is limited to 15, may-be 20. Everything is locally made, except for the batteries, which are imported from China. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) supported us to take our national test institute to a European level. While the automobile industry gets Governmental support from two ministries, the bicycle industry had nothing until recently. The bicycle isn't even mentioned in the Traffic Regulations Act. This together with the technology gap on the export market, made it very difficult for our industry to develop and expand. To bridge that gap the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) supported us to take our national test institute to a European level. In six months’ time it was up-graded and we can now test according to European standards and companies can obtain the certification of their products required for the European market. On the technology fronts concurrent initiatives are on to upgrade Common Bicycle R&D Centre with the support of UNIDO, setting up of HI -Tech Cycle valley for premium component making, company level multiple endeavors to reduce imports through indigenization. In India we set up for example three units to make reflectors as per ISO -6742-2 in the last two years. In line with the latest National Transport Policy Strategy, 100 cities have started to build cycling lanes and introduce bike sharing systems. It is good start, but the number of cities is limited. Another issue we are working on is the difference in import tax for bicycles and components made between India and our neighboring countries. The European Union levies 14.5% tax on bicycles and components from India, while from most countries around us the import duty is 0%. S. Gurmeet Singh Kular President FICO said that the Indian industry needs to be sufficiently connected with stakeholders nationally and internationally. We have to learn what the benchmark means for our market position. For example, our mobility system is very unsustainable. Cycling is still an important part of mobility but nobody is interested, as it represents the poorest part of the population who is not represented in politics. Still the cycling industry has an economic relevance. Some 1.6% of our GDP is generated by the bicycle industry. We at FICO are committed to raise the Indian Bicycle industry at the Global Level. S. Gurmeet Singh Kular President have invited the delegation of CONEBI to visit the RIDE-ASIA to be held from May 30 to June 02, 2019 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.