TOOLING THE WORLD THE INDIAN WAY

With a ‘Made-in-India’ mindset, decades of vision, and relentless pursuit of quality, Pragati Automation wins the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) Export Performance Award at IMTEX 2025 and inspires the industry with its SME success story.

At IMTEX 2025, amid the buzz of live demos, cutting-edge machines, and global business collaborations, one name quietly but powerfully stood out—Pragati Automation Pvt Ltd, recipient of the prestigious IMTMA Export Performance Award. For Mr Atul Bhirangi, Managing Director, Pragati Automation, this award is the vindication of a vision set in motion over three decades ago.

“The award makes us feel happy and at the same time proud because it means that as an accessory manufacturer, our export performance is better than Machine Tool Builders (MTBs),” says Mr Bhirangi. “This recognition motivates us to scale up to the next level of higher exports.”

The Power of Vision

Founded in 1977, Pragati Automation has grown to become one of India's most respected names in the machine tool accessory space world-wide. Best known for turrets and automatic tool changers (ATCs), the company is also stepping into CNC and servo systems. Its products have carved a niche in reliability and precision, earning the trust of over 100 MTBs world-wide, with more than 100,000 turrets and ATCs operational across continents.

What’s remarkable is how early Pragati bet on the world market. “Pragati’s vision has always been to make products for the global market and make ‘Made in India’ a global brand,” shares Mr Bhirangi, noting it as one of the main factors for its strong export performance—its vision. Back in 1990, with a turnover of just INR 1.50 crore, the company made its international exhibition debut. It has since participated in two international exhibitions every year, making itself a known and respected name across the globe.

Where Quality Meets Commitment

Success on the international stage demands more than ambition—it demands relentless quality, and Pragati knows that well. As Mr Bhirangi asserts, “For any product to be successful in the global market, it needs to satisfy the key elements like good quality, reliable performance, competitive price, and low after-sales service cost. All our products satisfy all these requirements.”

While developing a new product, Pragati benchmarks similar products of the top 3 global leaders for key parameters like technical specification, accuracy, and precision levels and develops products to match them. “Every new product undergoes tests and validation processes for 2 million cycles before it is offered to customers,” he continues. “Ensuring quality through proper process planning and producing parts on modern precision machines and timely upgradation of products as per market demand. These actions will help us meet global standards and compete effectively against international brands.”

The World as a Market

Building relationships is what Pragati believes in, which is exemplified by its expansive reach through export. “Our direct exports are to MTBs in more than 22 countries across continents,” says Mr Bhirangi. The company’s primary markets are Europe and China, with Germany leading the European front, followed by Poland, Italy, and Switzerland.

Although for the company it’s not just about direct sales. “Indirect exports through all MTBs extend to all corners of the world,” he adds, reinforcing Pragati’s far-reaching impact.

Next Frontier: Bigger, Faster, Closer

With the IMTMA award lighting the way, the company is planning strategic moves to expand even further, including product portfolio expansion, production capacity enhancement, and global customer proximity.

“We plan: i) to expand our products range to enable us to cater to the needs of every machine tool builder making machinery in the machinery spectrum of entry level upto high end. ii) to increase our production capacity to shorten delivery times. iii) invest in marketing and service set-up in Europe (Germany) to be able to be close to our customers in Europe to render timely service support,” reveals Mr Bhirangi.

Wisdom for the Industry

As an industry veteran, Mr Bhirangi has some advice for fellow Indian MTBs eyeing export markets. “Indian MTBs as a business strategy should have a clear focus on exports and commit an annual expenditure for promotion of exports,” he says.

Exports will help them to maintain a steady revenue as the revenue from different geographic regions will grow differently, which will help balance out any market upheavals in different geographies. “Exports will also help improve product offerings according to the market demands in different countries,” he further stresses. “In due course of time, products will become globally acceptable.”

Shifting his focus to another key factor, Mr Bhirangi shares, “Regularly participate in international machine tool exhibitions to get good exposure for the products. With more Indian brands seen in International exhibitions, ‘Made in India’ brand machines will be considered seriously by overseas users. It will also help to get good insight of the new trends and products in the global market, explore new supply chains, get an idea of the marketing and sales activities of competitors. Exports will also help earn precious forex for the country.”

IMTEX: India’s Global Launchpad

This year’s IMTEX 2025, held at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, set new records, drawing a massive number of visitors in comparison to all its earlier editions. In turn, the event resulted in a good number of important business inquiries, underscoring India’s growing manufacturing might.

And it was in this vibrant space that Pragati stood tall as an SME that has made it big. Apart from mirroring Pragati’s success story through its journey and recognition, it’s also a call to action for Indian SMEs to dream global, invest in quality, and champion the ‘Made-in-India’ brand world over.

Sovan Tudu Assistant Editor Magic Wand Media sovan.tudu@magicwandmedia.in

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