BY MALEEHA AKHTER
Union minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal today said that initiatives of the India International Trade Fair (IITF) is reflective of the resilience of the Indian economy bouncing back.
Inaugurating the 40th IITF, Mr Goyal said with the trade fair one of the finest and country’s largest convention centres will come up in the Pragati Maidan complex.
“Launch of this trade fair reflects the five sutras of Indian economy, exports, infrastructure, demand and diversity” said minister. He complimented IITF organisers for consistently holding the fair and attracting lakhs of visitors.
The theme of this year’s fair is Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Mr Goyal said this edition of IITF is seeing record participation as more than 3000 small and big businesses are taking part. The minister lauded the organisers for providing stalls free of cost for women and MSME entrepreneurs. He said other MSMEs including startups have been given a 40 per cent discount by ITPO.
The fair will continue till 27th of this month. The annual event, which witnesses record footfall, was not held last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Bihar is the Partner State whereas Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are the Focus States. Over 1,500 exhibitors from India and overseas are participating with the display of a large range of products and services. Twenty three States, UTs and 34 Central Ministries, Commodity Boards, PSUs and Government Departments are participating in this event.
As many as nine foreign countries including Bangladesh, Bahrain, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and UAE are participating in the fair. The first five days of the Trade Fair are exclusively reserved for business days and it will open to the general public from 19th to 27th November.
The timings of the fair will be 9.30 A.M. to 7.30 P.M. IITF tickets for both Business Days as well as General Days can be purchased from Customer Care Centres of 65 Metro Stations.
On general days for the public, in case of weekend and holidays the rates of IITF tickets will be 150 rupees for adults and 60 rupees for Child while on weekdays, it will be charged 80 rupees for adult and 40 rupees for child. On business days, the ticket rates will be higher.
For Divyang and Senior citizens the entry into the fair will be free.