ITPO

India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) was incorporated by

merger of Trade Development Authority (TDA), a Registered Society
under Ministry of Commerce & Industry, with Trade Fair Authority of
India (TFAI) with effect from 1 January 1992. TFAI was earlier
incorporated, under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956, on
30 December 1976 by amalgamating 3 organisations of the
Government of India viz. India International Trade Fair Organisation,
Directorate of Exhibitions & Commercial Publicity and Indian Council
of Trade Fairs & Exhibitions and commenced operations with effect
from 1 March 1977.
ITPO, during its existence of more than 3 decades has played a
proactive role in catalysing trade, investment and technology transfer
processes. Its promotional tools include organising of fairs and
exhibitions in India and abroad, Buyer-Seller Meets, Contact
Promotion Programmes, Product Promotion Programmes, Promotion
through Overseas Department Stores, Market Surveys and
Information Dissemination.
India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), headquartered at Pragati
Maidan, is the nodal agency of the Government of India under aegis of
the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India) for promoting country's
external trade. ITPO is a Mini-Ratna Category-1 Central Public Sector
Enterprise (CPSE) with 100 percent shareholding of Government of
India.
In January 2016, ITPO appointed NBCC (National Buildings
Construction Corporation Ltd) as Project Management Consultant
(PMC) for Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre
(IECC) project as part of Redevelopment of Pragati Maidan. The
project garnered much media attention due to demolition of Hall of
Nations and Nehru Pavilion by ITPO in April 2017, after approval
from Delhi High Court. ITPO has awarded the IECC construction work
to Shapoorji Pallonji Group for INR 2150 crores, making the project
cost go over whopping INR 2600 crores.
On 22 December 2017, Vice-President of India Venkaiah Naidu laid
foundation stone of IECC project and Integrated Transit Corridor
Development project at Pragati Maidan.
Events of ITPO
At Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

1. Aajeevika (14–23 April 2017)

2. Smart City India Expo (10–12 May 2017)
3. India International Footwear Fair, New Delhi (4–6 August 2017)
4. Delhi Book and Stationary Fair (26 August – 3 September 2017)
5. India Wellness Expo (29–31 August 2017)
6. Electricity India
7. Telecom India
8. India International Security Expo (October 2017)
9. India International Trade Faie (14–27 November 2017)
10. New Delhi World Book Fair (January/February 2018)
11. Nakshatra (January/ February 2018)
12. Tex Styles India (January/February 2018)
13. Aahar- The International Food & Hospitality Fair (March
2018)

Other Cities in India

1. Aahar – The Food & Hospitality Fair, Mumbai (11–14 October

2017)
2. East Himalayan Expo, Gangtok (December 2017)
3. India International Leather Fair, Chennai (1–3 February 2018)
4. India International Leather Fair, Kolkata (February/March 2018)
5. Tex Styles India, Kolkata (February/March 2018)

Third Party Events

Many private companies, cooperatives and confederations organise
prestigious fairs in Pragati Maidan such as
 Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)
 Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI)
 ABEC
 Pavilions & Interiors
 Inter Ads
 Exhibition India Group
 MEX Exhibitions
 Reed Manch Exhibitions
 International Trade and Exhibitions India
 UBM India
 Messe Frankfurt India
 Hannover Milano Fairs India

ITPO has been managing the Pragati Maidan exhibition complex

in New Delhi, which is spread over an area of 123.5 acres and has
established it as a renowned destination for holding exhibitions,
conventions, seminars, business meets and other trade promotion
activities. The existing infrastructure of Pragati Maidan includes more
than 16 exhibitions halls of about 65,000 sq.m. out of which 40,000
sq.m. is air-conditioned space. It also consists of additional open
space of 32,000 sq.m., a modern air conditioned food plaza with
seating capacity for 500 plus persons, open and covered auditoriums
with a combined capacity for 5500 and 1000 persons respectively,
lounge areas, business centre facilities, etc. The existing facilities are
being used by Industry, various Ministries, Govt. Departments
and State Governments to present their policies, initiatives and
achievements by supporting/holding exhibitions, conventions and
other trade related events
ITPO has an extensive infrastructure as well as marketing and
information facilities that are availed by both exporters and importers.
ITPO had had overseas offices at New York
City, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Moscow and São Paulo for pursuing opportunities
for enhancement of India's trade and investment. However, all
overseas offices are now closed by ITPO
ITPO has four Regional Offices:[20]

 Chennai
 Kolkata
 Mumbai
The Regional Offices, through their respective profile of activities,
ensure a concerted and well coordinated trade promotion drive
throughout the country

Subsidiaries
ITPO has two subsidiaries namely Tamil Nadu Trade Promotion
Organisation (TNTPO) and Karnataka Trade Promotion Organisation
(KTPO) with share holding of 51 percent in each of them. With the
commissioning of the state-of-the-art Chennai Trade Centre (CTC) in
January 2001 and the Trade Centre Bangalore in September 2004,
ITPO has successfully completed the first phase of the setting-up of
modern exhibition facilities outside Delhi.
In FY 2015–2016, TNTPO and KTPO registered revenues of about
INR 315 million and INR 48 million respectively and have reserves of
about INR 1840 million and INR 390 million respectively.[24]
The Chennai Trade Centre, which is now spread across 14,000 sqm,
is planned to be expanded by addition of 6,000 sqm and ITPO is
seeking approval from the board of the TNTPO for the sam

Strategic Issues
ITPO is operating a trade portal Trade Portal of India having all trade
related information including country profiles, product profiles, trade
directory etc. ITPO is networking with International Organisation in the
field of Trade and Commerce through membership or collaborative
arrangements such as Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), ITPO is
a founder member of Asian Trade Promotion Forum (ATPF) and
participates in its Annual meets regularly.[31]
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) provide round-the-clock security
at Pragati Maidan. Access control to the exhibitions area would also be
monitored by another team of the squad with help from private
security guards.
ITPO signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Federation
of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to collaborate on
trade promotion. ITPO also signed MoU with the Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) in April 2011, directed towards a collective and
well-directed effort to promote India's trade identifying the internal
strengths of the respective organisations.
ITPO signed MoU with National Book Trust (NBT), India for
conducting New Delhi World Book Fair every year, starting from
February 2013.
In 2013, ITPO has commissioned the Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to construct a Business Confidence Index and
a Consumer Confidence Index using data from ITPO's exhibitions.

Activities and Functioning of India Trade Promotion Organisation

The Standing Committee on Commerce (Chairperson: Mr. Shanta

Kumar) submitted its 114th Report on the Activities and Functioning of
India Trade Promotion Organisation on February 13, 2014. India
Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is a public sector company that
provides services to promote Indian exports, by organising trade fairs,
buyer-seller meets, and providing information on produce and market.

Main observation: The Committee observed that the efforts made

towards trade promotion by ITPO are to general in nature and fail to
provide a cutting edge to exporters. The recommendations of the
Committee are:
 Industry consultation process: The Committee noted that no
institutional mechanism for a regular consultative process with
industries for trade promotion has been established by ITPO,
and recommended that such a process be put in place.

 Foreign offices: The Committee felt that the decision of closing

its foreign offices by ITPO should be reconsidered since the
employees stationed at these offices provided valuable trade
data and forged useful links in those countries.

 Review mechanism: The Committee recommended instituting a

regular review mechanism to appraise the contribution of the
Commerce and Trade wing of Indian embassies towards trade
promotion.

 Export Promotion Councils (EPC): The Committee noted that

the role of ITPO in export promotion has definitely reduced
because of EPCs, which are exclusively focused on trade
promotion for a particular sector. The Committee recommended
that ITPO be more proactive in finding new markets for trade
promotion and that ITPO’s mandate be redefined to dedicate its
services exclusively for trade promotion of the Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises sector.

 Organiser of fairs: The Committee was of the opinion that ITPO

focused more on its role as organiser of exhibitions and less on
promotion of exports and trade. It noted that, in the exhibitions,
the number of foreign exhibitors and visitors is very low, and
recommended that ITPO make efforts to increase foreigner
footfall.

 Grievances of Indian exhibition industry: The Committee was

informed that ITPO, as the regulator of exhibitions in India and
owner of several exhibition spaces, has abused its dominant
position by imposing unfair conditions. It recommended that
ITPO submit a detail of redressal action taken on specific
problems/grievances of the exhibition industry within three
months of the submission of this report.
  Rental charges: The Committee noted that the rental charges
for Pragati Maidan, the biggest exhibition space in India and
operated by ITPO, are the highest in the world. The Committee
felt that this high cost reduces the organiser’s investment in
visitor promotion, and ITPO should consider rationalising
rentals.

 Trade and exhibition centres: The Committee noted that

establishment of trade and exhibition centres has been slow in
the country. It recommended the development of trade-cum-
exhibition centres on priority basis, and the upgradation of
existing facilities.

 Financial performance: The report of an independent auditor

from 2012-13 noted that ITPO’s income has been overstated due
to an under-reporting of liabilities. The Committee, taking strong
note, asked ITPO to submit a status note on the matter within
three months of the submission of this report.

India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is the premier trade

promotion agency of India, provides a broad spectrum of services to
trade and industry and acts as a catalyst for growth of India’s trade.
The main Corporate objectives of ITPO are:
 To promote external and domestic trade of India in cost effective
manner by organizing and participating in international trade fairs in
India and abroad; organizing buyer-seller meets and contact
promotion programmes abroad; conducting overseas market
surveys, exchanging and contact promotion programmes abroad;
conducting overseas market surveys, exchanging and coordinating
visits of business delegations, and undertake need based research
to facilitate trade in specific sectors/markets;
 To support and assist small and medium enterprises to access
markets both in India and abroad;
 To disseminate trade information and facilitate E-commerce/trade;
 To develop quality physical infrastructure, services and management
so as to enable holding of trade promotion events such as
conventions and trade exhibitions of international standard; and
 To enlist the involvement and support of the State Governments,
other government trade promotion agencies, trade and industry
associations in trade promotion of India’s external and domestic
trade.