Monday, February 08, 2010:
Completing two years' tenure in Messe Muenchen International (MMI) India, its managing director Manmeet Sabarwal exits from the company, making the industry buzz with doubts. Why was he not asked to continue in MMI when the company has still not appointed a new managing director? Interestingly, apart from Sabarwal, two more top officials have quit the project management team—Kurt Schraudy, head of business unit new technologies and Claudia Sixl, project director from Mumbai. These developments have led several speculations on the future of MMI India.
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As per the company's change in management communique, Sabarwal's tenure ended in December 2009. As a stop gap, the company has appointed Thomas Loeffler as the deputy CEO of MMI India and CEO of bC Expo India in January. Says Sabarwal, “It remains to be seen how the junior MMI India team will provide the vision to continue the dominance of the company for long, especially when at least three new shows are scheduled in 2010 and next year.”
MMI, however, has cleared that the project team of MMI India working on trade shows remains unchanged. electronica India 2010 and productronica India 2010 will take place in September 2010 at Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC). In his new role, Loeffler will be responsible for the upcoming shows including Bauma 2010—a trade fair for construction machinery to be held at Munich in April 2010; Drink Technology India show at Mumbai in November 2010; and bC India at Mumbai in February 2010. “He will just overlook electronica India 2010 and productronica India 2010,” says a spokesperson of the company, who wishes to stay anonymous.
Industry reaction
Loeffler started his career as a project manager with MEPLAN, a stand building company owned by MMI Germany. Subsequently, he undertook the responsibility of organising the textile machinery exhibition, ITMA, in 2007. “We have big plans for the Indian market with three shows slated in the coming 12 months,” comments Loeffler. However, industry insiders feel that Loeffler's “inexperience” in handling electronics fairs may damage the reputation of electronica India and productronica India.
K Srinivasan, secretary, ELCINA, however disagrees. “The departure of the top officials from MMI will certainly not make any dent in the reputation of MMI India. It is a global brand and well established in electronics industry. It is not driven by any particular person in the management. So, there will be no change in its performance. ELCINA will continue supporting MMI India in coming years,” he says.
A small section in the industry also feels that Sabarwal may join a rival company. Sabarwal, however, shares, “As of now, I am occupied with some personal engagements. I have a couple of offers in my hand and most likely will take up the new assignment in March.”
Sabarwal joined MMI India in 2007. “During my tenure, electronica India and productronica grew significantly in size. In 2009, there were 1,000 exhibitors.” Prior to joining MMI, Sabarwal was with componex/electronicindia from 2000-2007.
-- Sandhya Malhotra
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