Venue: Pragati Maidan

The India International Trade Fair (“IITF”) 2013 is back at Pragati Maidan again from 14 – 27 November, 2013 (Business Days: 14-18 November / Public Days: 19-27 November).

This multi-industry occasion is a must do in the calendar of Delhites. In fact, in addition to local visitors, we saw a huge number of overseas visitors enjoying the carnival like atmosphere at the Trade Fair last Sunday.

Japan is the partner country this year and a stand alone pavilion showcases Japanese merchandise. Further, Bihar is the focus state this year.

We were hoping that the Japan pavilion would offer some insight in the unique Japanese business culture by way of crafts / print techniques / industrial goods that we otherwise do not have access in India. But, what they carried were the popular Yamaha – Sony – similar Japanese corporations displaying their ware. This is somewhat disappointing since we find the above stores in almost any shopping mall here.

Further, in the foreign participation hall, the central enclosure, with huge space, was marked for South Africa. But most of these stalls were empty – a colossal waste of premium space and opportunity!

That apart, with its gamut of well designed theme state pavilions, a mesh of hardcore engineering as well as craft products and the juice kiosks and food stalls, the Fair lived up to our expectation. We had no idea as to how time flew!

A dampener is the transport arrangement. Once the Fair gets over, it is difficult to find public transport. Given the shopping, Metro is often not a viable option. The parking arrangement in front of Bhairon Mandir is inconvenient as it is very far and is difficult to cover with the Fair shopping. Further the parking charge is a whopping Rs. 135!!

To match the magnitude of the event, the least that should be done is to have prepaid auto/ taxi booths as well as frequent feeder buses to major points.