Trade trouble

Jamshedpur, Nov. 3: India International Trade Fair (IITF), 2009, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from November 14 to 27, is being given the cold shoulder by Adityapur-based industrial units.

In a departure from past trends, the individual units have refused to participate in the fair although they will send their products for exhibition. The products will be displayed at the 6,000sqft kiosk proposed to be set up by Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority (Aiada). Besides the individual units, Aiada had been putting up kiosks at the fair for the past six years.

Failure to find even a single customer in the past six years is said to be the main reason behind the entrepreneurs’ stand. In view of the industrial units’ concern, Aiada had even proposed inviting prospective customers this time. However, as the entrepreneurs have not received any list of customers yet, they have decided to give the fair a miss.

Sources said Aiada officials had held several meetings with the entrepreneurs to pursue them to change their decision but to no avail. It had even asked Adityapur Small Industries Association (ASIA) to convince the industrialists.

“IITF promises to provide new business avenues to participating production units. However, the units from Adityapur did not get any customers for auto component spare parts in the past years,” said owner of a unit that had put up a kiosk in the fair last year. The fair had witnessed participation from half a dozen industrial units in 2008.

Officials of ASIA, however, confirmed that the units would provide their finished products to Aiada to be displayed at its kiosk. “The Aiada kiosk will showcase a wide range of auto components manufactured by the units based,” said general secretary of ASIA Santosh Khaitan.