ACAAI top brass: (L-R) Outgoing President S. L. Sharma, President Hemant Bhatia, Vice President T. A. Varghese and Secretary General Sunil Arora.

For the first time in its history, the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) has decided to hold its 43rd Annual Convention in a European city: Athens.
      The convention begins tomorrow (November 16-19) and will discuss future strategies for the EXIM cargo sector.
      Europe holds a special place for Indian exporters. While 49.4 percent of Indian exports by value are sent to Asian countries, 18.7 percent are meant for Europe, 17.1 percent to North America, and 9.7 percent to Africa. The effort by ACAAI should bear some positive results.
      In fact, the ACAAI Managing Committee selected Athens as the venue for the convention after looking at places like Bali, Abu Dhabi, and Manila.

Access Agenda

      Access to the European market is important, keeping in mind that India’s exports have dwindled continuously for the past one and a half years.
      Exports to the EU, for example, dipped by around 4.5 percent in 2014-15.
      It is known that the EU would also like more of a footprint in the Indian market given the economic slowdown in the region.
      According to India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the EU as a bloc of 28 countries was India’s ninth largest trading partner in 2014.
      India’s overall bilateral trade with the European Union for the period 2015-16 is $88.13 billion, comprising of exports valued at $44.60 billion (17.02 percent of India’s exports) and imports of $43.53 billion (11.44 percent of India’s imports).
      Members of ACAAI’s Managing Committee said it was important to keep everyone abreast with the current global economic scenario and in India.
      While the scenario was changing rapidly with digitization, the customers were demanding time bound deliveries.
      At the same time, the competition had changed the whole business.

Resurgence India

      The theme of this year’s ACCAI convention is “Resurgence of Air Logistics in India,” and while the Managing Committee expects large participation by members—given the attraction of Athens as a tourist destination—who will focus on the business. Veteran Convention Chairman Sunil Arora (he was responsible for organizing the last two conventions, Shanghai in 2014 and Ho Chi Minh City in 2015), while speaking to FlyingTypers, pointed out that the convention would be “full of serious business discussions” as well as a fair share of leisure.
      The discussions at the meet will analyze the current global economic scenario and its impact on the export-import industry, particularly on the air cargo industry in India.
      Arora also said that members attending the convention would also “be able to discuss the rapid changes that are taking place in the Indian economy, the moves in the ‘Ease to do business,’ the growth of e-commerce, safety and security of air cargo, perishables, and a whole lot more.
      “Air cargo,” said Arora, “is directly linked to the economic graph and growth of any country that in turn relies on global trends.” Despite the recessionary trends in other countries, he was quick to mention India was witnessing positive economic growth “though our exports levels are below expectations.”

A Fork In The Road

      What is most important is that this year’s convention is taking place at a crucial juncture.
      Mentioning the theme, Arora said there was “a vital need to rejuvenate, resurge, and reassess to meet the challenges facing the industry and be ahead in the race for global pre-eminence of the skies.”
      Among the other conducive factors are moves by the government, which is on overdrive to bring in air connectivity with the upgrades and revamps of Tier-2 and Tier-3 airports and has also instituted measures to ease the business processes by establishing procedures to reduce dwell time.
      To top it all, the country’s economy is doing well and with international air cargo figures now showing signs of buoyancy, an upbeat Arora commented that ACAAI members as well as other Indian forwarders were expecting “from eight to ten percent growth of the international air cargo market in India in this financial year.”
      He pointed out that the government’s policy measures to boost manufacturing, radically change the Goods and Services Tax regime, enhance infrastructure and technology, and implement single-window clearance would help the business a great deal.
      Arora also said that the convention includes foreign delegates from trade associations along with the Indian Ambassador to Greece and officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
Tirthankar Ghosh