If you thought that Exhibitions and Trade Shows are a mere show of business prowess and nothing to do with the real gain, be ready for a pleasant shock. For the PAPEREX 2007, the four-day exhibition which concluded here in Delhi on December 10 not only generated business leads but also gave good return to participants' money.
The show, which is biggest of its kind in Asia, witnessed huge participation this year with more than 24,000 visitors coming to the show. "The first day had more than 6,000 business visitors which were followed by 9,000 the next day. There has been 50 per cent increase both in terms of area of the show and the number of visitors," said ML Wadhwa, chairman TAFCON who is organising the show.
One of unique features of the show this time was a special exhibition on handmade paper which was organised under the umbrella of Directorate of handmade paper and fibre industry, KVIC, Mumbai. The other unique feature was a huge foreign participation which was spearheaded by China under the China Pulp and Paper Industry, China.
To make the handmade paper industry popular among people, a special seminar titled "Marketing potential and export opportunities for Indian Handmade paper industry' was organised on the first day of the show. The seminar was aimed to discuss the marketing strategies and issues to boost the marketing of the Indian handmade paper and its product both in the domestic and international market.
The various pavilions of the exhibition were thronged by business houses from the mainstream paper manufacturing industries. Bharat Box Factory, a Punjab based firm which participated for the first time in the show was overwhelmed by the positive response it received at the exhibition.
"The show was an excellent exposure for professionals who are in paper industry. There were visitors from 39 countries and exhibitors from as many as 24 countries. The queries are certainly going to translate into business proposals," said RL Raina of Bharat Box Factory.
The major thrust of the show was on Technology, Machinery, Equipment and Spare Parts, Pollution Control, Conservation of Energy and Water, Waste Paper and Service for Designing, Supervision and Installation of Plant and Machinery, Conversion Industry and Handmade Paper & Technology, which got its due attention from the visitors.
"We had a good interaction with the business visitors who were eager to know more about the products and get associated with us in long run. It's sure to firm up in times to come," said Ashutosh Nadkarni of SKF bearing and lubricants.
Nadkarni's views were further corroborated by Nirav Vora of Nachi Spherical Roller Bearings who said that his business queries have picked up in comparison to the last year.
AK Chatterjee of Kingslay Industries who has been participating in the show for the last many years said that business queries were so huge that they had to hire experts from other European countries including Brazil, USA, Canada, Germany and Spain to help them deal with the business queries.
Most of the exhibitors felt that a good response was a healthy sign of Indian paper industry doing well both at the domestic and international market. Most of the domestic exhibitors, however agreed that a tough competition from China was looming on the horizon and the Indian industry has to show its best if they want to retain their supremacy in the paper industry.
