Mr. Sumit Gandhi is a Promoter and the Executive Director of Asian Business Exhibition & Conferences Ltd. Sumit joined the group business of Exhibitions and Conferences and was instrumental in organizing events such as Education Boutique, ACETECH, Glamour, Glitter, Glasscon, TG Tech etc. At Asian Business Exhibition & Conferences Ltd, Sumit is responsible for major areas of business such as handling Sales & Marketing and also Finance of certain key events of the Company.

In an e-mail conversation with EVENTFAQS, Gandhi shares his thoughts on the Indian Exhibition space. Excerpts from the interview:

Does the company own any exhibition properties? What are the major exhibitions managed by the company in the past?

ABECL owns the IPR of all exhibitions that it organizes. ABECL has 56 IPRs registered in its name. Some of our major exhibition properties are:

· ACETECH - the flagship event of ABECL, the largest Building material show in India and among the top 5 in Asia. ACETECH did 37,000+ sq mtrs and recorded 150, 000+ visitors in 2009.

· Education Boutique - the largest Education show in India and among the top 10 in the world.

· Realty Expo, Property Expo and Business Spaces put together making ABECL the largest in Realty shows in India.

· Glamour and Glitter - niche shows in the Lifestyle segment.

· Asia IT Expo - fast emerging as one of the top 5 IT shows in India.

What was your objective in announcing an IPO for the company?

Asian Business Exhibition & Conferences Ltd. has witnessed growth at a scorching pace @ 80% CAGR in the last 4 years and has scaled up to a level, where it is the largest in exhibition industry in private sector. However looking at international level of exhibitions, we have a long way to go. For second level of scalability, we need to invest in Infrastructure and acquire more exhibitions apart from growing organically.

What is the present size of the industry, and how is it expected to grow in the coming years?

The present size of this industry is estimated to be 800 Crores and the industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20-25% over 2010-2020.

In your opinion, what are the key obstacles currently facing the Indian exhibition, convention and trade show industry business?

Venue is the most important one. We need world class infrastructure to host big exhibitions. The venue dedicated to exhibitions in India was 254,707 sq meters in 2009 (Ufi Report by Business Strategies Group, Fifth Edition 2009) and no new venues are planned for the next two years. For the Indian exhibition industry to achieve 700-990 Million USD size by 2020, we need an additional 800,000 sq meters to be created.

Shortage of realty in cities like Mumbai and Delhi is a problem. Government regulations are also not conducive to fast growth in this sector.

What improvements, in your opinion, would be key to the future success of the Indian Exhibition Industry?

As I said earlier, venue creation holds the key to future growth. Venue creation, being a highly capital intensive activity, needs government support and subsidies. Besides that, the real challenge to Organizers in India is to scale up the exhibitions and yet continue to give value to the exhibitors. MNCs need to customize their Marquee events to suit Indian markets. They cannot expect to replicate it the same way it is done in their home country.

Does the Indian Government recognize the amount of business the exhibition, convention and trade fair sector can bring to the economy?

The exhibition sector is yet to get industry recognition. The government needs to incentivize the sector the way China has done. (For Ex. In China, RMB 30,000 and RMB 20,000 incentives could be granted respectively to those who introduce international and national exhibition complex with more than 300 exhibition booths.) There should be exemptions from taxation and fees and subsidies for venue creation.

What are companies such as ABECL doing to bring the issue to the attention of the authorities?

Companies like ABECL are working towards creating world class events like ACETECH. We hope to do 200,000 sq meters by 2014. ABECL is trying to bridge the gap in venue creation by venturing into semi-permanent structures, so as to sustain the growth in the sector.

How has the exhibition and conference industry been growing over the last four years? Were there any significant changes in the structure of the industry during the global economic slowdown?

The Exhibitions Industry has shown a robust growth of 20%+ in last four years (UFI).The global economic slowdown didn't affect the Indian industry as much, unlike rest of the world, since the Indian economy still grew well during this short recessionary phase. The structural changes in the Industry are more due to other factors like:

· The scale and class of various sectors in the Indian economy moving up and matching global standards. The same rub-off has been seen on exhibition industry, which is a proxy to broader economy.

· The Europe and U.S facing zero to negative growth and their brands looking at China and India as next big markets. Exhibitions are the most cost effective and best marketing tools.

· India, being a consumption story (unlike China, which is more of outsourcing story), attracting more attention of European / US players, who are increasingly looking at gaining foothold in Indian economy.

· A growing acceptance in India among domestic consumers/manufacturers for large exhibitions of World class and size.