The countdown has begun in Mumbai for India's second-largest plastics exhibition. Plastivision India 2013 (www.plastivision.org) gets underway 12-16 December and, in addition to the host, 45 countries are registered to participate. The annual industry event is organised by the All India Plastics Manufacturers' Association (AIPMA; www.aipma.net), which has more than 2,500 direct member companies.

A highlight this year is certain to be the "Vendor Development Programme", which organisers claim is the first of its kind, targeting large institutional plastics buyers to present mid-term demand projects to a select group of suppliers. Another important event during the exhibition is the US business summit with AIPMA and the US plastics industry trade association, the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI, Washington DC; www.plasticsindustry.org), organising B2B meetings with nearly 50 industry professionals from the various American companies.

In addition, there will be six new pavilions focusing on areas such as renewable energy in energy-intensive manufacturing, mould making, processed plastics as finished products, plastics in water conservation and crop optimisation, innovative and productive automation engineering and utilisation of solar energy in plastics processing machinery.