ITPO today released an official Press Statement on the “BIG Announcement for the Exhibition Industry in the wake of COVID 19”. The Announcement came after ‘V K Bansal’, the President of newly formed ‘Association of Indian Exhibition Organisers’ wrote to ITPO demanding many relief packages. While the step taken by ITPO is worth appreciation, The package came after Pune based Messe Global Announced slew of benefits followed by even more benefits by Greater Noida based Expo Centre. TFT did a quick analysis of the said relief packages. Five points.
L C Goyal , CMD- ITPO
V K Bansal , President- AIEO
The revised policy will be applicable to all the third party fairs to be organised in Pragati Maidan from 01 April, 2020 to 31 March, 2021. The relaxations provided to the trade fair organisations are as under :-
1) ITPO will not levy any penalty for cancellation/ re-schedulement/ reduction in space booked by third party fair organisers upto March, 2021, provided the request is received at least 90 days before the scheduled date of the event or date of notification of this order, whichever is later.ITPO will issue credit note to thirdparty fair organiser, which can be adjusted in their futureevent(s).
TFT’s Take : Welcome step, this will be a big relief for those who have booked their exhibitions at Pragati maidan during the said period and are still uncertain on the Covid 19 outcome.
2) ITPO will give discount of 20% in the published/approved rentals to the third party fair organisers for the events booked/to be booked or re-scheduled/to be re-scheduled during the same business periods up to March 31, 2021.
TFT’s Take : Published/approved rates mean over 40 % more rates than the lean season. in this case a 20 % discount means 20 % higher rates for the events being organised during the high season. Needless to mention the events postponed/cancelled during the low season will have to pay 20 % more as they can’t be organised before the october 2020. Half glass empty.
3) The re-scheduled event in FY 2020-21 will need to pay the originally booked rentals or the published/approved rentals of the relevant business period, whichever is lower. In case the organiser intends to shift/ re-schedule the event from lean to semi-peak/peak or semi-peak to peak or vice-versa, such a request should come at least 90 days before the scheduled date of the event or date of notification of this order, whichever is later. (In case of re-schedulement inter business periods, the general benefit of 20% rebate will not be applicable).
TFT’s Take : Here is the ‘Reality Check’. Read in full. Twice or Thrice to figure out what exactly is the benefit.
4)The present payment plans for ITPO rentals i.e. “Eight Months before start of tenancy” has been relaxed and revised as “Four Months before start of tenancy”.
TFT’s Take : This will not at all help any Organiser. The plan has the situation in consideration too.The situation is volatile and no Organiser can expect the certainty of an exhibition four month before the tenancy. Not worth any benefit.
5) The delayed penalty, if any, for the period 01-02-2020 to 30-06-2020 will not be charged.
TFT’s Take : How many Exhibitions will happen during this period. Litteley none. Not charging Penalty during non opening of Pragati Maidan ? how does this help an organiser ?
The above reliefs/ relaxations will instill confidence in the fair organizers and help revive the exhibition industry amid concerns of slowing growth of the exhibition industry.
TFT’s Take : Not to any big extent. The situation post lock down will not be conducive to organising fairs. At Least till October-November 2020
ITPO has taken these altruistic steps despite hindering its own financial health but this is the need of the hour and ITPO will make all efforts to support the exhibition industry to survive and thrive.
TFT’s Take : The competition is going to be tougher for ITPO with two more Venues, perhaps with better facilities and almost no corruption will give a tough competition to ITPO in coming years in NCR. Time to be more aggressive in selling the Venue. Time to really look for partners than ‘Third Party Organisers’. Time to “Move with the Time”.