Exhibition News

Indian show riles up exhibitors

The email was set off by a letter from the President of the organiser of the show, Plastindia Foundation, Ashok Goel, explaining the space allocation. He explained that of the total useable space of 80,000 sq m, only 38,574 sq m could be allotted of the total demand of 55,000 sq m for 2012. Goel goes on to say a decision was made to divide the exhibitors into three main sectors: Machinery, Raw Material and Finished Goods with the area available in Pragati Maidan also divided into three zones.

The organiser has also made available outdoor pavilions to "facilitate visitor footfalls to all exhibitors." Goel points out, "If exhibitors of the same sector are scattered all over, then it would definitely affect footfalls depending upon the visitors' sector of interest."

He also mentions that some exhibitors, especially from the raw material sector, were disappointed with the allocation since not all could be accommodated inside. At the 2009 show there were 192 raw material exhibitors over an area of 6,490 sq m, compared to 225 over 11,815 sq m - almost double the space. This posed a challenge and outdoor pavilions had to be set up, he adds.

However, the circulated email asks why large spaces had been allocated to a few big Indian companies stating, "PlastIndia Foundation has made this show accessible only to high level established businesses within the plastics industry." Plus, the email questions how many of the total number of 530 foreign exhibitors been placed in outdoor pavilions.

The email from disconcerted exhibitors also questions the 50% higher fee for the exhibition space and asks on what basis this had been undertaken, pointing out that facilities in Pragati Maidan are no where comparable to the K show in Dusseldorf and NPE in Florida.

The email requests that all plastics industry companies be given free membership to PlastIndia Foundation and to review the annual expenditure and schemes "so that we can understand where the money is going in the name of development of plastics in India."

PRA sent two emails to Ashok Goel requesting further clarification but received no reply.