‘I Will Attribute The Success Of India ITME 2022 To Our Meticulous Planning’

Rendezvous

‘I Will Attribute The Success Of India ITME 2022 To Our Meticulous Planning’

For exhibitors, India ITME 2022 was a great show. How did you manage to pull this off, given the various challenges – pandemic, a new venue? More than the physical challenges of moving the show to Noida, I would say the mindset was more of a challenge. The industry has gotten used to the home location – Mumbai, exhibitors are comfortable with the arrangements, etc. That was a hurdle that got compounded with delay and the rescheduling of the show, twice. Here I must thank Mr Hari Shankar, Chairman, India ITME Society, because he was completely convinced about the venue. He stood firm on his decision, and even stood by the secretariat. We are a small team of 16 people. And the venue was new to us too. If was unfamiliar ground - what are the pitfalls, what arrangements need to be done, what support services would be needed, travelling every time to Noida to map the venue, etc. So, for us too, Mumbai was a comfort zone as we have the service partners with whom we have worked for many years. But here we had to look to various supporting partners, work culture is different. All in all, from all four sides, we felt stressed, cornered. And then the apprehension if people would visit, you know the industry was not doing quite well. So there was anxiety. But also I must emphasise the fact that we were very aware of all the challenges of shifting the venue to Noida. And we planned for the contingencies, prepared very thoroughly for every potential hurdle, we had our plan A, B, C in place. If the event is successful, it is only due to the very thorough planning and preparation that we did. Especially during the lockdowns when we were working from home, we did not lose any days of work, we all worked really hard. By nature, I am a cautious person, and for me the event, or my responsibility does not end with just bringing in the exhibitors and visitors, my responsibility ends after I have completed the dismantling with no accident to labour, no accidents on site, and handed back the venue. You’ve announced the Africa Show in 2023. What are your expectations from this show? The first Africa show was fabulous, the response was much more than we expected. India ITME Society is well aware that Africa is not yet a very developed market for textiles, rather you need to educate the industry, change their mindset. It is a long journey for which we are prepared. We are working strategically towards this. The first event itself was quite successful in every way, financially, in terms of brand building, etc. The second edition will be a bigger one. We have already received a number of bookings. After the first show, there is confidence among exhibitors that they can go to Africa and get some business, establish networks. Moreover, the idea of going to Africa is not just about going to a new market. It’s about time that India projected itself out to the world. We cannot expect that we will sit at home and people will come to us. We have to go out to the customers, present ourselves, build our image, showcase our strengths and what we can offer the world. And the Society having this mandate of promoting India as a sourcing and manufacturing hub has taken up this challenge. We will be doing not only this, but lot more activities towards this. A very common echo around the show this time was that India ITME is more relevant that ITMA Asia, Shanghaitex, etc. Your views? I would say the opportunity is there. But the industry has to rise to the occasion and take advantage of what India can be. I have observed that many times the industry has missed the opportunities in the past. This time, there is a determination even within the government to give India its rightful place in the global map. I hope the industry also picks those signals up, takes the benefit of the conducive environment that is being created. India today is much more developed and mature. We have overcome certain social mindsets. It’s a more confident India today. India ITME Society, with its mandate of promoting the industry, will certainly rise to the call of duty. Your message to the industry? I wish to thank all the exhibitors who participated in the show. Through all ups and downs of the last few years, no one cancelled the bookings. They all stayed with us. I am grateful for that trust, leaving that deposit money with us, despite two postponements. A couple of small companies withdrew, and we understood the situation, with Covid, and liquidity crunch, and we refunded fully. I am humbled by the trust the industry has placed in the Society. And we also work with lot of commitment and integrity towards the Society.