7312 buyers attend 48th IHGF – Delhi fair
Highlights of the five-day extravaganza were knowledge seminars, fashion shows, theme pavilions, and distribution of Ajay Shankar and P N Suri Memorial awards
The 48th edition of IHGF Delhi Fair Autumn 2019 concluded on October 20, at India Expo Centre and Mart, Greater Noida, contributing significantly both to the exports of handicrafts as well as the promotion of craft clusters across India.
Tagline of the fair was ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – An initiative to Breathe life into junk’. Rakesh Kumar, Director General-epch said that the various installations were created by using waste materials such as metal from Moradabad, wood from Jodhpur, glass from Firozabad, handloom from Panipat and Jaipur and ceramics from Khurja. Secondary materials being automobile and plastic scraps from Mayapuri and Bahadurganj and non-hazardous e-waste from Delhi were also used. Besides above, the Council banned plastic bottled water and offered the metal water bottles to the visitors and exhibitors.
Buyers from various countries appreciated the efforts of EPCH for taking initiative in the direction of sustainability and also opined that IHGF-DELHI fair is growing year after year and keeps on not only bringing new products on display but also taking new initiatives.
India Expo Centre and Mart remained action packed for five days with over 3200 Indian handicrafts exporters from all across the country displaying selections of over 2000 + products and more than 300 trend specific design developments, 14 display segments of home, lifestyle, fashion, furniture and textiles spread out in an area of 1,97,000 sq. mtrs informed Ravi K Passi, Chairman – EPCH.
The other highlights of five days extravaganza were knowledge seminars, fashion shows, theme pavilions from North East, Narsapur and
Mana Village at Indo-china border for the first time and distribution of Ajay Shankar and P N Suri Memorial awards to best design and display stands of the exhibitors.
Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India have given special focus on handicrafts of Jammu & Kashmir and a theme on J&K was also set up.
Overseas buyers and their representatives participation from 110 countries increased from 6596 last year to 7312 this year, supported by over 2000 domestic volume buyers. The fair generated business enquiries to the tune of Rs 3750 crores this year representing an increase over last year.
Ravi K Passi, Chairman – EPCH said that the buyers visited maximum from USA, Germany, UK, Australia, France, Japan, China, and Russia. This year, new buyers also visited from Libya, Madagascar and Moldova.
Various dignitaries such as Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Chaudhary Udaybhan Singh, Minister of State for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Khadi & Grammoudyog and Export Promotion, Govt Of UP, Ajay Tamta, Former Minister of State for Textiles, Ravi Capoor, Secretary [ Textiles], Ministry of Textiles, Vijoy Kumar Singh, IAS, Addl Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of Textiles, Shantmanu, IAS Development Commissioner [ Handicrafts], Suresh Jain, Chancellor, Tirthankar Mahaveer University, Moradabad and various other Government officials visited the show.
The exhibitors who had opted for Retail sale during the show said that the initiatives, taken by EPCH for inviting e-commerce and online companies to source from the IHGF-DELHI Fair are showing good results.