Posted by
Barry Siskind
Community Manager
Exhibition World is following its April cover story ‘Harvesting India’s growth potential’ http://www.exhibitionworld.co.uk/feature.php?id=36, with an online exchange as part of UFILive.
In Antony Reeve-Crook’s article he states that in spite of the considerable potential for growth over the next 10 years in India (quadruple) there are still major problems to over come. One such as, “Venues are the most important obstacle facing the Indian exhibition”
The subject of India is a timely opportunity for our blog community to react to the feature, and share your views on the growth of the Indian exhibition industry. All this will take place two weeks ahead of Manch Communications’ Expo Summit in New Delhi, a conference to discuss the Indian exhibition industry
Comment taken during this discussion will be used for an India feature to be published in the June edition of Exhibition World.
This is the best way to know and develop our thoughts for The development of Exhibition Industry In India
To develop this industry We need to have a Public and Pvt Bodies to take part in the development of exhibition Industry.
We can’t depend on Government or government bodies for development as this is the root cause for the development. There are no plans for developing this industry or make this industry benefit.In India each state can have his own convention center.
It is good to see that Ambani Group which is entering into this industry as they are planning to develop a Convention Center in Mumbai which is needed desperately at least in Mumbai. Mumbai being a financial capital of India We are yet to have a WORLD Class Convention Center.
We need to develop a model in which each and every state at least a metropolitan city should have a world Class convection center.
If we compare to Asian or Gulf countries we are far behind in this industry.
But in terms of shows which take place are comparable more or less the same.UFI has taken the initiative for the development of Exhibition Industry in India and hope you find a good response. UFI should organize they meetings and seminars in India for the benefit of exhibition industry in india.
[…] May 12, 2010 In Antony Reeve-Crook’s article he states that in spite of the considerable potential for growth over the next 10 years in India (quadruple) there are still major problems to over come. One such as, “Venues are the most important obstacle facing the I … Continue reading … […]
I believe the venue issue in India is a difficult nut to crack. If you compare the two great emerging economies China and India, is there a correlation between their exhibition halls and their trade? China has invested heavily in exhibition venues creating excellent ‘shop windows’ in which to display their goods for sale around the world. By comparison India is a poor second, but is that due to the different emphasis that India has on exports, India tends to export more services which dont need exhibition facilities. Therefore are exhibition halls less of a priority for the Indian Government and are we less likely to see public funding going into facilities. This means that it is probably the private sector that will have to fund new facilities as the Ambhani Group are intending to do in Mumbai and as was planned for Dwarka by DLF before the financial crisis. It is up to the exhibition industry to support these initiatives
I don’t diagree with what Nick is saying here , and certainly we would have a different picture in India if the Ambani and DLF projects were now up and running. But I do feel we need to stll to convince as UFI the State Gov’t and provincial Gov’ts as to the benefits of suitable venues and what their return is to the country / city and and commerce in general . India really does deserve several 1st Class Exhibition Venues…we all know they only need to be simple structures but the land costs for private investors are prohibitive to make an ROI. Imagine for instance if Messe Frankfurt today tried to buy the land in Frankfurt that it occupies without some land grant from the City, it’d be impossible. The upcoming conference in Delhi end this week will certainly address this and other matters.
Michael
I have shared my views and the data collected on the venues in India with Antony. In 2009-10 (April-Mar), expo data show that the existing venues of more than 5000 sqm covered area on a average is less than 10% on indiviual basis and collectively less than 5%. I believe at the first place the availability of venues is not an issue, the issue probably would be the facility upgradation and services. secondly the organizers need to move beyond Delhi and Mumbai.
In my opinion the larger issue is having a strong regulatory body with both goverenment and private players as stake holders. Further the planning commission of india need to link a fraction of their spending with promotion of industry through exhibitions. This should be done by regulating and limiting the no of expos to a certain number and getting it done in all regions of India.
Having said the above, and being working closely with relevant governemnet agencies, I can say that the venues in future will only be developed in new developing cities and not in larger metros, certainely not in Delhi and Mumbai.
Currently the New Exhibition centers in India which will be operational in india soon are Navi Mumbai CIDCO, state of the art green certified building (April 2011) and Gandhinagar in Gujrat April 2012).
Other venues which are possible in near future are in Chinchwad near Pune, Manesar near Delhi and Jaipur.
We at HITEX can develop new halls (5 with minimum size of 3500 sqm and max of 10000 sqm each anytime within 6 months (HITEX being part of the largest Engg and construction company)if any orgnizer is willing to commit a long relationship.
It is not only the question of land cost, in our case we have near free land, the question is the commitment of organizers so that the operations cost can be controlled. If more number of expos are committed, the operation cost is bound to come down.