India
inflection point in terms of growth.
According to Prasad, “The world is
sitting up and taking notice of India …
it is now India’s time to script its own
growth story”.
Anbu Varathan, CEO of Bangalore
International Exhibition Centre,
supported his colleague’s assertion,
identifying huge growth potential.
The IEIA, which has launched its
own Made in India programme, is
targeting 8% growth per annum over
the next few years.
Rising profile
India’s profile is in the ascendant, it
would seem. The annual IEIA seminar
is gaining traction and the fact that
Anbu Varathan will be President
of UFI in November 2020 – the first
time an Indian has held this position
– brings kudos and can surely only
raise the industry’s profile.
Yet, even though the industry has
come a long way, it is still playing
catch-up with many developing
India’s exhibition industry – an
overview
In a nutshell: The exhibition
industry is highly fragmented,
dominated by the north and
west regions, worth INR265bn
to the economy in 2018. The key
challenge is a lack of exhibition
space (c.480,000sqm total venue
capacity nationwide), according
to IEIA President KV Nagendra
Prasad. However, moves to address
this issue (i.e. new venues in
Mumbai and Dwarka) could see
400,000sqm added in the next 3-4
years.
2018 performance: India held
615 B2B and B2B+B2C exhibitions
last year, of which 38% were
national and 62% regional, put on
by 195 organisers. This represents
a 3% Y-o-Y fall in the number
of exhibitions due to cyclicality.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
countries (i.e. The Philippines) in
terms of infrastructure and logistics,
Dr Anup Wadhadwan, India’s
new Commerce Secretary, told the
seminar’s opening session.
For all the talk about the industry’s
exciting growth potential, the IEIA’s
President was maintaining a sense
of perspective. India is a mere
eleventh the size of China in terms of
exhibition capacity, he stressed, and
the country’s lack of exhibition space
at national level remains an issue.
That said, the situation is improving.
For example, several years after
the original plan was conceived (in
2011), the first phase of the India
International Convention & Expo
Centre at Dwarka (near Delhi airport)
is expected to open in February
2020. So, too, a new exhibition
venue in Mumbai is being built.
Collectively this will expand India’s
venue capacity significantly – Prasad
predicting that industry capacity will
double in size in the next 3-4 years
However, the total size of exhibitions
(i.e. gross space rented out) was up
c.9% Y-o-Y.
Sector split: General consumer
(B2B+B2C), building & construction
and medical & pharma accounted for
28% of total gross exhibition space in
2018; most other sectors are still at a
very early stage in terms of exhibition
space.
Regional skew: Regional events
accounted for two-thirds of the total
market (5.1m sqm. of gross space) last
year, with the north and west making
up 72% of exhibitions. A regional split
of exhibition space shows a heavy
skew towards the north (38%), west
(34%) and south (22%), with very
limited indoor capacity in the centre
and the east of the country.
Consolidation underway: Domestic
companies made up ~55% of total
>>>
India Trade
Promotion
Organisation
(ITPO)
www.
indiatradefair.
com
from the current 480,000sqm.
Government support
The IEIA President also stressed the
government’s key role in helping to
develop India’s exhibition industry, and
fellow IEIA board member Ravinder
Singh agreed. “More government
support is needed in terms of providing
venues for the country’s Tier 2 cities,”
he said, although he did acknowledge
the progress that has been on the
capacity front in the past
two years.
events last year, with industry
association and trade bodies
leading with ~40% of total gross
sqm. However, multinationals
are gaining market share through
M&A.
Key drivers: Consolidation, B2B
engagement, a growing regional
focus on the south and the north,
more emphasis on niche topics
(luxury, safety), digitalisation and a
focus on Tier 2 cities in India.
2020 outlook: India’s exhibition
industry is forecast to grow at a
12% CAGR next year, according to
EAC Consulting, reaching 6.4m sqm,
driven by emerging sectors, new
events and new venue capacity
coming on-stream.
Gandhinagar
Railway
and Urban
Development
Corporation
Ltd.
www. garud.
org.in
Kinexin
Convention
Management
Pvt. Ltd.
www.
iiccnewdelhi.com/
Tamilnadu
Trade Promotion
Organisation
www.chennaitrade
centre.org
Source: EAC Consulting Group
(Snapshot: Exhibition industry India
2018: Status quo and Outlook)
Issue 4 2019
39