India International Trade Fair to become an annual affair

If the crowds converging on the 152 acres of real estate near the Yamuna river in New Delhi were any indication, then the third India International Trade Fair (IITF) was a great success. On Sundays especially, close to half-a-million people thronged the 11km of paths in the Pragati Maidan complex, looking at a bewildering array of wares and products laid out by 45 countries. 27 international industrial organisations, 50 Indian public and private sector firms and 27 Indian states and Union territories. Said Mohammed Yunus, chairman of the Trade Fair Authority of India (TFAI) whose show it was: "The response is terrific." Yunus's response was predictable, but there was no doubt that the display was impressive. There were industrial robots, trucks with retractable axles, indigenously assembled video cassette recorders, a huge 60-tonne crane from which a truck dangled, sophisticated electronic equipment for the 'office of the '80s', and a microprocessor-controlled system for the power supply of a city.There was even, in a very attractive fusion of East and West, a computer which delivered horoscopes while people waited. The range of products was awe-inspiring - the Punjab pavilion, for instance, displayed over 2,000 separate items under one roof. And the whole was backed by an entertainment blitz that included puppet shows, fashion shows, a skating rink, and a demonstration by police dogs..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Lucrative Show: Business was the reason for the "mela' and, according to salesmen, it started picking up after the first week. An executive in an automotive parts manufacturing firm based in Delhi said that they received around 20 enquiries a day, of which two were expected to develop into concrete orders. This more than compensated for the trouble of laying out equipment worth Rs 50,000 and paying Rs 7,000 as rent for an area the size of a middle class drawing room. All in all, fairs appear to be lucrative affairs: according to a statement made by Union Commerce Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Rs 8.73 crore were spent on participation in fairs in the last three years, and the sales and orders generated ammounted to Rs 35.92 crore; business worth Rs 73.92 crore was still under negotiation. Despite all the commotion of the promotion, there were significant gaps in the line-up of foreign stalls. China, which had taken part in a big way in the last fair in 1979 was conspicuous by its absence; so were the United States and Britain. It appeared that the newly-served up carrots of on-the-spot sales of up to Rs 50 lakh for a foreign government and up to Rs 15 lakh for a private firm was not sufficient bait for the developed countries. The USSR grabbed the largest amount of space, 4,000 sq metre, followed by newcomer Pakistan, which displayed Rs 30 lakh worth of products ranging from telephones to a collection of onyx.Eye-opener: The reason why the developed giants are indifferent to India is that the country is still considered a market rather than a producer. That India can produce industrial robots and slick luxury items such as 12-metre air-conditioned buses with automatic gears - both on view at the Tata pavilion - must have come as an eye-opener to the 30-odd trade delegations. A West German firm has reportedly offered DM 180,000 (Rs 7.2 lakh) for the robot. The visitors were also captivated by the low prices. Said Yunus: "Our prices are very low, so low that they produce an impression that the product must be of low quality." To dispel such an impression, the TFAI has planned big things for the future: it will peddle India in 200 fairs a year instead of the present 40 and the IITF will become an annual affair with Pragati Maidan developed into something between an amusement park and a trade centre. All this hard sell will presumably help to pull TFAI out of the red: losses for three years running, on Yunus' own admission, had raised doubts about the organisation's efficacity. Someone, at least, will be trying hard to close the trade gap.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 25, 2013--- ENDS ---

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India International Trade Fair to become an annual affair

If the crowds converging on the 152 acres of real estate near the Yamuna river in New Delhi were any indication, then the third India International Trade Fair was a great success.

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