India to benefit from more venue space: UFI

The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) has surmised that India will see growth and opportunity over the coming years as the association's executive committee met in New Delhi. Industry leaders from companies such as Informa, Reed, and Fiera Milano held meetings with venue representatives, the board of the Indian Exhibition Industry Association (IEIA), and other senior executives.

According to predictions from the latest UFI/BSG report on the trade fair industry in Asia, venue space in India will increase by more than 10% by the end of 2019. Over the past five years, the Indian market has grown by 39%, which is far ahead of the regional five-year average of 27.3%. As a whole, the country’s trade fair industry has been the best performing large market for the past five years.

“For many years, international organisers have been pushing for more and better exhibition space in India that meets our industry’s international standards,”said UFI President Corado Peraboni. “It is encouraging to see that projects in Pragati Maidan, at Greater Noida, and at Dwarka, among others, are now under construction.”

A few days after the UFI delegation left India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the new India International Convention & Exhibition Center (IICC) in Dwarka. The convention centre and exhibition space is scheduled for completion by the end of 2019 and will be operated by Kintex, Korea’s biggest venue-management company.

On top of that, in the Pragati Maidan Exhibition Complex in New Delhi, they are also rebuilding three exhibition halls with a capacity of 60,000 sqm. This phase of the project is scheduled for completion in February 2019.