Emerging Trend of Trade Fairs
THE SENTINEL
Guwahati: 28 September
The yellow-turning autumn leaves and the dew¬ wet, night-flowering jasmines herald the advent of the Puja season. It is time for joy and merry making everywhere. Tourists prefer to visit their chosen destinations. Business houses in our country also take the opportunity by organizing some temporary markets - trade fairs - to promote trade, where buyers and sellers transact business. These trade fairs have their origin in periodic markets or rural fairs that provided different types of: products and services to the rural tribal communities living in the hilly and forest areas of the country. Throughout history, the relations between traders and producers have been changing with the development of new techniques, and with changes in the economic scenario of the day.
The 19th century was the delight of export-import merchants. But nowadays it is common to hold international fairs where industrial products are displayed for inspection by customers - a grand and glorified version of the village fair. The role of exhibitions in popularizing a product is immense. Customers have the advantage of touching and looking at various products on show as well as getting clarification, from the selling staff. As for the exhibitors, they can interact with the ultimate user and use the opportunity to explain the advantage of their products vis-à-vis their competitors' products. They can also use such interactions for future research and development purposes. This can also facilitate the introduction of products and services in new territories. Such fairs seem to have an increased role in international trade. According to the statistics provided by the Global.Association of Exhibition Industry, 30,000 exhibitions took place all over the world in 2002, with 3.2 million exhibitors reaching around 350 million visitors. It may be mentioned here that China is emerging as the major player in the world economy, and there is a massive growth in the number of venues and fairs organized in the country Thailand, Honk Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are also adding a number of venues.
The Indian Exhibition Industry was in its infancy prior to 1990. Exhibitions and fairs used to be held by State governments and Local body that catered to the local population. During the mid-nineties, exhibitions in India became more active in order to promote consumer goods and service products. However, the infrastructure for organizing fairs on a large scale was still lacking. Pragati Maidian in New Delhi was the only venue for quite a long time, but of late more venues have been coming up, such as the Chennai Trade Centre, HITEX in Hyderabad, Bangalore Exhibitors’ Centre and World Expo Centre in Noida. There is no gainsaying the fact that the positive effects of such fairs extend also to the field of education.
Naturally, Asom has also realized the role of exhibitions in enabling the people to understand new consumer products that may not be normally available in the market. Jewellery exhibitions and food festivals organized at grand hotels and marriage halls are worth mentioning. Apart from these, local trade fairs, commonly known as mela, at the initiative of certain voluntary organizations, make their own contributions. The NEDFi Hut in Guwahati provides a permanent venue. Sometimes response from visitors is so warm that long queues are regular feature at such events. The poor and illiterate artisans from remote areas get a chance to exhibit their products that otherwise remain unseen and unexplored.
Another fact is that craft practices have been revolutionized in today's world. The Northeast, popularly known as the Seven Sisters, has varied ethnic existence, with community-specific-culture, tradition, customs and rituals. Craft practices like basketry, traditional costumes like masks, vibrant and colourful textiles, jewellery etc play a defining role in articulating the ¬cultural -identity of these committees. Studies show that currently there is moderate to high awareness of northeastern handicraft in the domestic as well as international market.
It is the trade fairs that are the only platform where traditional craftsmen get an opportunity to exhibit their products and popularize themselves among the global audience. In order to cater to such an audience, Asom too has started organizing international trade tail's, though in a small way. Traders from neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and China have been exhibiting their products for the last two or three years in fairs held in Asom. No doubt, it is a humble beginning towards the development of trade and commerce in this region. In this regard, the opening of the Nathula trade route through Sikkim after 44 years, connecting India and China, is a milestone. There is a consistent effort now on the part of the Asom government to reopen the Stillwell Road that starts at Ledo in Asom and ends at Kumming in China. The reopening of this road 'would bring down the transit time and transportation costs, and the region might turn out to be a hub for foreign traders. Let it be said here that if our industry wants to compete in the global market, regular International Trade Fairs are a must, where there could be a global audience, quite eager, quite participative.
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