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Indian Handicraft & Gift Fair Spring 2009
Source: Neena DayalIndian Handicraft & Gift Fair of Spring 2009 was the twenty-seventh event in the series. The event held in the month of February this year showcased products in the handicrafts, housewares and gifts items. The event seemed to be just another run-of-the-mill event this year, which received not much press coverage and foreign audience. The recent terrorist attacks at the business capital, Mumbai of the country, were the main reason for the lack luster trade event. The upcoming general elections for the formation of the new government also remained the current focus of the media and this proved fatal for the publicity of the event.
The 27th Indian Handicrafts & Gifts Fair 2009 featured the Spring collections of designer products. The trade fair was organized from Feb 25 – 28, 2009. This trade fair is generally the hub of activity from buyers and suppliers. This year the economic recession has left many buyers eager for cost-cutting strategies and there is very little surplus money to spend. This also added towards explaining the lack of usual gaiety at 2009’s Spring trade fair. The venue for the event this year also was India Expo Centre EXPO XXI at Greater Noida in the state of Uttar Pradesh. India Expo Centre & Mart represents a rare combination of grandeur and state-of-the-art facilities in a total covered area of 235,000 sq m. The event was organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH). It operates under the guidance of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. The aim of the trade fair is to provide a showcase of the entire range of Indian handicrafts to the foreign buyers under one roof. This year because of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai the strength of the foreign buyers was considerably less. It put a damper on the hopes of the exhibitors of great interaction with the foreign buyers. The exact exhibitor, buyer and visitor numbers were not declared till the time of filing this report. In the pre-show reports the authorities projected that the number of exhibitors would be 1800 from all over the country displaying an extensive range of handicrafts and gift items.
Visitors’ and Exhibitors’ Profiles:
The targeted visitors at the 27th Indian Handicrafts & Gifts Fair 2009 were wholesalers, government planning authorities, MCG companies and software companies, gift industry professionals, overseas buyers, retail chains managers and showroom managers, leading exporters, brand and product managers and others. The trade visitors belonged to the gift industry and government planning authorities. There were also exporters, retail chains owners and senior level managers, and overseas buyers. The showcased exhibitors at the 27th Indian Handicrafts & Gifts Fair 2009 were companies and firms dealing in housewares, fashion jewellery, decorative and gifts items, accessories and bags, cane, bamboo and eco-friendly products, furnishings, furniture, floor coverings and home accessories, Christmas decorations, candles and incense sticks, home textiles and others.
International Terrorism Activities and Business:
Business suffering with the threat of international terrorism looming large generally remained the main theme of this year’s show. This is a serious threat that affected the business considerably. In order for the people to feel safe and secure the Indian government needs to implement good security strategies for the protection of the foreign buyers coming to the country in search of exotic products, that the country is famous for. In the absence of inculcating sufficient security measures for the buyers and sellers the mood for trade would definitely remain guarded. In order to create a truly international business atmosphere many loopholes in the system of governance and operational areas need to be fixed. Only then the trade can flourish and bring the desired results. Many buyers who regularly source from India were conspicuous because of their absence this year. Indian exports have suffered losses in the prevailing economic recession. But the impact is not as hard as experienced by many other countries; this is because exports are not the sole lifeline for many business owners here. The threat of terrorism was definitely a much bigger business killer in this trade fair.
The 28th Indian Handicrafts & Gifts Fair is scheduled to be held on 10-13 October 2009 at the same venue. Hopefully, some valuable lessons would be learnt by then.
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