EPCH shifts IHGF Delhi Fair to virtual mode amid Covid scare
NEW DELHI – 17th April 2021 – The 51st IHGF Delhi fair which was scheduled to be held physically from 19th – 23rd May, 2021 at India Expo Centre and Mart at Greater Noida has been cancelled owing to the current pandemic situation getting worse with each passing day.
Ravi K Passi, Chairman-EPCH said that since various state governments have re-imposed varying degree of lock downs which include complete lockdown on weekends and since the current fair dates i.e. 19-23 May, 2021 have a weekend in between, the situation has become all the more challenging. The IHGF Fair Committee Meeting chaired by Ravi K Passi Chairman-EPCH and co-chaired by Rajkumar Malhotra, Vice-Chairman-EPCH and members of the Committee of Administration of EPCH along with regional coordinators have decided that the physical edition of the fair will not be held and only the virtual edition of the fair will be held during 19th – 23rd May, 2021 at www.ihgfdelhifair.in.
He further said that the council had received confirmation from buyers from across the globe for the fair. The exporters too were eager to participate in the physical fair, however, keeping in view the current situation, the decision to cancel the physical event was taken.
Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Director General-EPCH said that the members were vocal for holding the virtual fair considering the advantages of the virtual events during such difficult times since the virtual event will facilitate both overseas buyers as well as Indian exporters to transact business virtually. This virtual event is expected to host around 1200 exhibitors and over 5000 overseas buyers.
He further elaborated that the event will be an exclusive business to business event with conferences and other activities are limited only as per requirement. Indian Embassies and Missions abroad are also coordinating with us for holding this virtual event. “EPCH is confident that the fair will be able to control the damage to the sourcing of the products from small and medium enterprises of the handicraft sector in these difficult and challenging times and will provide business opportunity to them,” he said.
The estimated figures for exports of handicrafts for the period April-March of the financial year 2020-21 stands at Rs. 25558.94 crores (USD 3443.45 million) registering a growth of 1.14 % (Rupee terms) and decline (-)3.39 % (dollar terms) over the same period last year.
