PRESIDENT’S REPORT

INDA IS ACTIVE IN INDIA

INDA has been very active in developing conferences and business connections in India. You may ask why, and the answer is simple.

We have been promoting the work we've done in India for several reasons. First and foremost is that I believe India represents the “Next Big Thing” for the nonwovens industry, worldwide. The Indian economy is growing at almost 10% per year and the number of Indian nationals that occupy the “middle class” and have disposable income now amounts to almost 400 million people.

The Indian economy and market for nonwoven manufacturing, converting and fabric sales will develop over the next five to 10 years into a huge opportunity for those companies that want to participate. It is INDA's role to research the market and provide our members with the best information regarding this developing market. We find that 64% of our members surveyed approve of our efforts in India to date.

That said, I also believe that each member must develop its own strategy for its activities (or not) in India and decide on how they want to deal with these opportunities. INDA can help by identifying the opportunities, by making introductions with business associates or partners in India, and by facilitating the development of strategic plans. All you need to do is ask.

We had a successful “Link with India” in October of 2007. More than 300 people attended the conference and tabletop reception. The feedback from those present was very good. We have also developed a training course on Geotextiles in India. I believe that the Indian government will support the use of geotextiles in future road and rail construction. They certainly need it.

Our plans in India for 2008 are quite modest. We have developed this training course and delivered it this month. We plan two or three additional “Elementary Training Courses” during the year. We will continue to develop market information and identify potential customers, suppliers and partners for our members. We'll do this and spend less than 1% of our annual expense budget.