Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association:

Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (SGMEA) is a registered body of the    sports goods manufacturers. Though the membership of the Association is limited to about 45 firms, they are the leading exporters of sport equipments and have a share of nearly 90% of the export from the country and have more than 50% home market as well to their credit. The Association members, predominantly from Jalandhar, lead in manufacturing technology for sports goods and some are manufacture of world class equipment.The Association has a full time office executive, who coordinates various activities of the Association. SGMEA regularly conduct interactive meets, seminars and workshops on technology and market related issues. The Association publishes a house journal named Voice which contains valuable information about the sports industry. This is widely circulated to all Sports Federations, Associations, Foreign Embassies in India and to all Indian Embassies and Consulates overseas. SGMEA has been identified as a nodal cluster level institution for the development of Jalandhar sports goods cluster, keeping in view the capacity of its members to excel. The Association is interested to set up a Test House for sports goods which they subsequently would like to upgrade into a full fledged R&D center. Majority of the members of the Association are also interested in the up gradation of their technology.Since the inception of UNIDO CDP, the activities of the Association are being up scaled to transform it into a dynamic cluster level institution. The Association is developing strong linkages among the members to provide them support in the areas for joint marketing, technology sourcing through consortia. A very good understanding and faith among the members can be seen. This is a very healthy indication for growth in all respects. The Association has already three fourths of its work to have its own website. The members of the Association are fully funding their present activities, it has been found appropriate to support it under UNIDO CDP for taking up common business activities. The UNIDO is funding partly network based activities to help the sports industry. Programmes for export promotion, technology acquisition and diversification from the traditional sports items are also being taken jointly.