My dear fellow members,

I have just taken over charge as your President from my good friend and colleague Mr.Vidyashankar Krishnan, under whose dynamic leadership, the Association has shown rapid strides in the last two years including in the international arena. I am extremely grateful to my colleagues in the Managing Committee for this confidence reposed in me. I am sure this is a sign of the blessings from God as well as your belief in my abilities as your leader. All of you have stood behind the Association and its leaders through thick and thin and I firmly believe that you would lend me the same or even more support through the various challenges that this responsibility confers on me. However, I wish to reiterate that I feel indeed proud and privileged. I am confident that this goodwill and support will stand me in good stead and guide me successfully through the dual responsibility that Presidentship of AIFI and 20thInternational Forging Congress (IFC) place on me.

All of us in the Association and I personally are indeed grateful to Mr.Vidyashankar
Krishnan for the keen personal interest he has taken in each of the developmental and other initiatives taken by the Association to strengthen the role played by the Indian Forging industry vis-a vis their foreign counterparts and to showcase our capabilities to the world at large. I propose to carry this baton forward with all your help.

I have been meeting and interacting with most of you in our various meetings, both as Vice -President, as a Managing Committee member and as a fellow forger, and I have found this experience very rewarding, educative and enriching.As you all know, the last year has been very challenging but the future hold a lot of promise for us in the forging industry who dare to dream and convert these dreams into reality, especially since the world is eyeing us as a very potentially lucrative market as well as a promising future industrial hub.Of course any opportunity like this also brings with it some inherent challenges like rising costs, energy crisis, appreciation of the rupee, environmental concerns and many more unknown variables, to which we need to be sensitive, alert and adaptive. Of course, all of us in the past, have always found our very own and unique ways to combat these issues.
I am sure we will continue to look forward, show foresight and innovate to find effective solutions to these challenges.

You must all by now, be aware, that our Association has taken one more step forward in agreeing to host the 20thIFC between 13-17thNovember 2011 to show the world that we are second to none in terms of technical knowledge and capabilities and that we mean business. As in such situations in the past ( 13thIFC - 1990,ASIAFORGE-2008) a lot of preparations are going on and the members of the Managing Committee as well as the Core Committee -20th IFC, are spending a lot of their valuable time planning and coordinating to make the event a memorable and fruitful one. I would be personally grateful if all of you could pitch in and contribute in whatever way possible to support this huge event taken on by the Association (which is also a big opportunity for us all). This is an important event for the entire forging industry in India, so please lend your whole hearted and active support. I would appreciate if you could send in your suggestions either to me, or the Convenor, Mr.Vidyashankar Krishnan or the Association.

I propose to have many more initiatives during my tenure also and I look forward to interacting and meeting with you all.

I wish all of you good luck and thank you once again in anticipation for your goodwill and confidence in me.

Greetings to all of you and your families for the oncoming New Year.

Thank You.! With best regards, Deven Doshi President