Indian technology fair in SA fails to charm

Wednesday, 06 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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DURBAN: The India Technology Trade Fair, which was hosted in this city coinciding with the Miss India Worldwide Pageant, has failed to draw the kind of crowds expected. "This is the second time that we came in because when we were here in May we made sales of Rand 500,000," said Anil Bhatnagar, CEO of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (UPICO). "We had been led to believe that many people would be coming here from all over the world to see the Miss India Worldwide Pageant (in which girls from 25 countries in the Indian diaspora participated). "We thought this would be a good platform and a good time to explore the potential for business with other parts of the world as well." But that did not happen and mainly South Africans came to the fair. Exhibitors at the fair were generally unhappy with the attendance figures. They said there should have been more and better advertising and promotion. Sisters Sangeeta and Deepali Pal said they had come expecting an overwhelming response for their handicrafts and clothing. "The response was good for the designer clothing that we had on display. "But something went wrong with the handicrafts. People like them very much, but they are not buying. Maybe we did not plan our system too well, because people are walking in here with credit cards, and we are taking cash only," said Sangeeta. Bhatnagar said the response to the fair had been much better last time: "There were many agreements that were signed between South African and Indian parties, such as orders for corrugated paper making machines and food processing machines." He said six of those exhibitors had returned for the second fair that ended here at the weekend and took double the space they did the first time. Bhatnagar said the special emphasis by the Indian government on the Focus Africa program was to see trade between countries in the sub-Saharan region in the first phase grow by 50 percent a year both ways. South African businessman Sundru Pillay, whose company Metrolink Public Relations assisted in the organization of the UPICO Fair, told IANS: "The exhibitors from India who regularly undertake trade fairs here have also helped create temporary jobs for students who would otherwise have been unemployed." Ajit Singh, the Indian consul general here, said many delegations from India were coming because South Africa was a good market for India and vice versa. "On the first visit by the Uttar Pradesh delegation a few months ago, more than 10,000 people visited the fair, which prompted them to come back again," he said.
Source: IANS
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