LONG WAY TO GO...

I remember the very first time I attended a global trade show. I was fascinated by the bevy of people streaming in and out of halls, the air filled with a murmur of all the ‘business talk’ that was taking place. The same night, I sat in front of my laptop and searched for information about the Indian exhibition industry only to realise that there was hardly anything on it. What a sorry state of affairs, I thought. The exhibition industry brings together a total of more than 260 million visitors per year worldwide, according to UFI, and is valued at a whopping $55 billion. 4.4 million companies exhibit each year and the industry creates around 700,000 direct jobs. Exhibitions deliver important face time with potential clients and business partners and are equally effective in forming ties with them. While countries like the US and Germany are a few of the key players in the sector, the Indian exhibition industry is struggling to catch up. The last tabulated data suggests that 950 exhibition planners in India organised 3,569 exhibitions on 77 subjects in 88 cities between September 2013 and August 2014. Since then, there have been more additions but no report that suggests so. On one hand, the country has realised the potential of the industry with the Prime Minister’s Make in India campaign set to change the face of the industry, but how far will the change be likely? When the rest of the world is already talking about upcoming trends and the way the industry will be affected by various factors, we are still trying to establish our own. The need is of drastic measures that will not only propel the sector, but also put India on the global exhibitions map and increase its prominence from the minuscule share it currently occupies.