Exhibition organisers’ convention to chalk out mega-growth road map

The Indian Exhibition Industry Association (IEIA) has organised its fifth annual summit at India Expo Mart in the Capital. More than three hundred delegates from India as well as abroad attended the event which drew an extensive programme, with sessions including international perspectives on India, use of modern technologies & solutions for faster turnaround, human resource development as growth stimulator, role of service providers as partners, how to ensure outstanding customer experience to visitors and develop synergies between MICE and exhibitions. The Indian exhibition industry’s top honchos will then go on to identify three big opportunities and challenges for the next two years.

IEIA President Rakesh Kumar said, “Over the last few years, the Indian exhibition industry has been steadily growing at around 15 per cent.” He further mentioned, “In line with the projected economic growth of the Indian Economy of 7.5 per cent by the IMF, IEIA has set a target for the exhibition industry to achieve exhibition space sales of 15,000 crore by the end of the 2017 fiscal year, generating business enquiries worth one lakh twenty thousand crore in 3,700 hundred shows with net exhibition area of 750 sq m and above to be organised in the country.”

Various European studies have shown that trade fairs bring into play a powerful multiplier effect, contributing to the extent of 10 to 12 times their turnover to the geographical area served. Estimating the worldwide turnover of the industry at 25 to 30 billion euros, the economic impact of this activity, even by conservative estimates, would be around 250 billion euros. And this is in addition to the role of facilitators that trade fairs play in promoting business.

There is a direct link between economic growth and the trade fair business. Not only do trade fairs stimulate business activity across a wide range of sectors, eg hospitality, transport, freight movement, tourism but also help increase government revenues through additional direct and, more importantly, indirect tax collections.

For example, trade fairs boost German economic output by about 20 billion euros every year. They also ensure that 226,000 people have full-time jobs. Furthermore, trade fairs generate 3.8 billion euros in taxes at the federal, state and municipal levels.

There has been a flurry of activity during the last 10 years as some of the world’s leading trade fair organisers like Reed Exhibitions, ITE, UBM, Cologne Messe, Messe Düsseldorf have set up permanent establishments in India, either fully owned subsidiaries or joint ventures, and have been organising shows in the country. Among major Indian players operating in the market are India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), industry associations like CII, FICCI, Assocham, SIAM, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, Plast India Foundation, Apparel Export Promotion Council and others beside private players.

ITPO Chairman & Managing Director and Additional Secretary (Commerce) J S Deepak stated, “Through the Union Budget of 2015-16 the Government announced its statement of purpose to boost the country’s economy. Noticeably, the budget has provided several mechanisms to improve infrastructure development. The recent announcement made by the Prime Minister for setting up of Smart Cities under the Make in India programme cannot be completed unless the city has a Trade Fair & Convention Centre. Surely we expect the trade fair industry to be one of the direct beneficiaries of the Union Government fresh impetus on infrastructure development.”

He further added, “The Government’s role in respect of infrastructure development is crucial as nowhere in the world has trade fair infrastructure been developed by private players. Ideally, a public-private partnership (PPP) should be the route whereby the infrastructure is developed and owned by Government agencies and managed by professionals with necessary experience.”

The Indian Exhibition Industries Association is a representative body of trade fair organisers, service providers, logistic companies and media managers etc. The objective of the association is to provide a platform for considering ways and means for sound and scientific development of various segments involved in the business.

More than 700 trade fairs taking place in India annually. Out of these trade fairs, 150-170 involve international participation. The growth of trade fairs business in India has been around 15 per cent during the last decade. There is tremendous potential for further growth. The Open Seminar aims to prepare a road map for the future.