Question : EXHIBITION SITES OUTSIDE DELHI

(a) Whether the I.T.P.O. has made any plans to establish permanent exhibition sites in other places of the country outside Delhi;

(b) if so, the details of cities and centres identified so far, State-wise;

(c) the extent to which the I.T.P.O. has made any efforts to encourage high quality trade exhibitions outside Delhi;

(d) whether the feasibility of such expositions has been examined;

(e) if so, the steps proposed to be taken to encourage, run, manage and franchise exhibitions outside Delhi by I.T.P.O;

(f) whether any State Government have suggested their Capitals for such exhibitions; and
(g) if so, the details thereof ?

MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI MURASOLI MARAN)

(a) to (g) In order to strengthen the export promotion infrastructure in selected regional centres of the Country, ITPO is in the process of establishing Regional Trade Promotion Centres (RTPCs) on the lines of Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. During the 9th Plan three centres at Bangalore (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Calcutta (West Bengal) are proposed to be set up. Proposals for establishment of similar centres have been received from various States such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh (UT).

ITPO has been organising the India International Leather Fair (IILF) in Chennai and International Leather Goods Fair (IILGF) in Calcutta. Both these annual events have been well received by the leather industry. The next edition of IILF is proposed to be held in Chennai during Jan 31 to Feb 4, 2001. The next ILGF will be held in Calcutta in March 2001. In addition, during the last financial year, ITPO organised the India Trade Show in Gangtok, Sikkim during March, 2000 in association with the State Government of Sikkim.

India Trade Promotion Organisation has been encouraging high quality trade exhibitions outside Delhi by private exhibition organisers also. During the last financial year, ITPO approved as many as 111 exhibitions to be held outside Delhi by various exhibition organisers. These are mostly specialised events on focused products.