Sunday, April 17 2005 17:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Top Indian machine tool manufacturers, including Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) have identified China as a potential market for exports as well as collaborative partnerships, industry leaders said in Beijing.

"We are looking at China as a potential export market and are exploring business opportunities here," general manager, HMT (International) Limited, Mahendra Kumar said in Beijing.

Kumar, who was part of a high-level delegation from the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA), which visited China for the first time, said HMT, which has supplied a wide variety of machine tools to a number of developed and developing countries is keen to forge an alliance with Chinese companies.

HMT, Kumar said, is looking at business opportunities, outsourcing of components and to forge a joint working arrangement with Chinese companies for mutual benefit.

According to President of IMTMA, C P Rangachar, the Indian machine tool industry has identified China's booming market as an opportunity that must be tapped as part of diversifying the country's export destinations at a time when India-China bilateral trade is booming in tune with high-level political exchanges.

"China imports 50 per cent of its machine tool requirements and there is no reason why we cannot be a part of this huge opportunity," Rangachar told PTI in Beijing.

D D Mulherkar, Head of Machine Tools Marketing of Premier Automobiles Ltd, said his company was also looking at the China market seriously and is on the lookout for potential partners.