India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is synonymous with the country's trade promotion around the world all round the year. Indeed at ITPO, the promotion of trade is an exacting mission, translating into a search for new frontiers and new horizons in the world of commercial interactions, both at macro and micro levels. A mission that finds expression in the successful organisation of trade exhibitions in India and abroad, buyer-seller meets promotion through department stores, contact promotion and product development programmes apart from dissemination of information on products and markets.

As the premier trade promotion agency of the government of India, India Trade Promotion Organisation provides a broad spectrum of services to trade and industry so as to catalyse the growth of bilateral trade, particularly India's exports, and technological upgradation and modernisation of different industry segments. ITPO’s programmes are carried out in close cooperation with the Indian industry whose promotional needs it seeks to serve.

As an apex agency of the Government, ITPO accords approvals for holding of international trade fairs in India in order to ensure and facilitate, inter alia, customs clearance of imported exhibits. ITPO has been conferred the status of Mini Ratna by the Government of India. This honour is bestowed on select Public Sector Enterprises which register profits for three years in a row.

ITPO has taken a lead in promoting the Fair Culture all over the country. Major initiatives have been taken through negotiations and discussions with the State Governments for setting up of exhibition complexes in West Bengal, Assam for the North-Eastern region. The significant achievement in this direction has been the setting up of Regional Trade Promotion Centres at Chennai in January 2001 and at Bangalore in September 2004.The Chennai Trade Centre has been set up as a joint venture between ITPO and Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO).Similarly Trade Centre at Bangalore has been set up as a joint venture between ITPO and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB). This is in consonance with ITPO's policy to provide an impetus to the country's overall export efforts.

• Pragati Maidan-Fair Worthy At All Times
• Exhibitions in India
• Exhibitions Overseas
• Buyer-Seller Meets (BSM’s)
• Promotion through Department Stores
• Contact Promotion Programmes
• Membership of International Organisations and Bilateral Agreements
• Surfing the Information Net
• Main Activities and Services of ITPO
• Pragati Maidan: The Exhibition Complex-A Profile
• Facilities at Pragati Maidan2

ITPO manages India's only world class exhibition complex which is being renovated, modernised and upgraded from time to time to keep it in a high standard of fair-worthiness. Spread over 149 acres of prime land in the very heart of India's capital and bustling mega polis, New Delhi, Pragati Maidan offers 62650 sq. meters of covered exhibition space in 17 halls besides 10,000 sq. meters of open display area. New halls have been added recently.

These state-of-the-art exhibition halls have enhanced the appeal of Pragati Maidan as an ideal business proposition for an increasing number of fair organisers and business visitors from different parts of the world. In general, Pragati Maidan offers the kind of ambience that is conducive to an increasing variety of exhibitions featuring gigantic machinery and equipment to delicate exhibits like watches and Jewellery having handle-with-care tags besides a whole range of precision engineering products. Every year as many as 50 exhibitions are organised at Pragati Maidan by ITPO and other agencies.

ITPO's exhibitions at New Delhi and in other parts of the country effectively mirror the latest developments in various sectors of industry and cater to both export and import requirements. The international events that have, over the years, developed an institutionalised character include International Security Exhibition, Aahar (Food Expo), Printpack India, Delhi International Shoe Fair, Tex-Styles India, the India International Trade Fair, Prakash (Lighting Exhibition) at Pragati Maidan , the India International Leather Fair (at Chennai) and International Leather Goods Fair (at Calcutta). These exhibitions enjoy tremendous industry support, both from the point of view of participation and visitor turnout from India and abroad. ITPO's magnum opus, the India International Trade Fair continued to be a major business attraction in 2004 with a turnout of 100,000 business visitors from India and overseas.

ITPO has a major programme of organising participation by Indian companies in over 50 international fairs in various parts of the world. These fairs offer exporters a fora for an array of merchandise ranging from textiles and garments, leather goods, handlooms and handicrafts to engineering goods, hardware’s, hand and machine tools, electronic and computer items. Over the years, ITPO has regularly taken Indian products, technologies and services to more than 100 cities in different parts of the world.

The identification and selection of overseas fairs is based on the opportunities that these exhibitions offer to Indian exporters. ITPO extends a variety of facilities to participants including market information, publicity and visitor promotion, design and display inputs, freight handling and clearing and insurance of cargo.

Buyer-Seller Meets organised by ITPO have been a highly successful method of market penetration. The popularity of the BSM’s can be gauged from the fact that the number of Indian companies aspiring to participate has been increasing each year and many companies have, in fact, to be kept on the waiting list. Significantly, the profile of buyers has improved substantially to include some of the best importers, wholesalers, trading companies, department stores, supermarkets and other retailers.

ITPO has been organising India Promotions viz., the promotion of Indian merchandise exports in association with leading overseas department stores like Bloomingdales, JC Penny, Harrods, Galleries Lafayette, Liberty and so on. This mode of export promotion not only generates impressive order bookings but also creates substantial spin-off effects translating into unquantifiable future business.

Under this programme, a team of industry representatives, accompanied by an ITPO official, visits identified markets to establish contacts with pre-identified buyers and transact business. Before such overseas visits, ITPO carries out in-depth research about the market in order to derive maximum benefit for the Indian industry delegations.

Business Information Centre is ITPO's initiative in providing trade information services with electronic accessibility. BIC addresses the new challenges and methods of doing business using reliable trade information and support services.BIC provides on stop point for varied trade information and services on India by serving overseas importers to source from India and Indian exporters to expand business. BIC provides efficient management of trade information services besides connectivity and linkages to trade organizations in India and overseas and facilitates greater market access for Indian business.

• Make information available in interactive mode
• Provide useful linkages to trade and trade related institutions
• Provide access to current market information and specialized online data bases.
• Ensure information is easily retrievable and deliverable online
• Identify global trading opportunities.
• Facilitate use of existing data and ease of updating content by various users in multiple locations.
• Support development of active information networks at regional, national and International level.

• Physical Library
• Electronic Library
• Online Databases
• Internet
• Market Intelligence

The centre hosts the first Trade Portal in INDIA http://www.tradeportalofindia.com which provides reliable information access both off-line and online by addressing the entire spectrum of trade information among the other wings converging Product Profiles, Supplier profiles from India, Country profiles of major trade destinations, Global Importer's directory, World economic environment, Overseas Market Situation, Trade Fairs & Exhibitions, Market Surveys (Product-wise), Trade and Investment Policy, Trade statistics, Tariff and Taxes etc.

BIC thus, is the one stop for varied trade information and services on India serving overseas importers and Indian exporters in expanding business. BIC envisages encompassing specialized services like video conferencing, language translation, virtual office, and virtual trade fair and in due course e-transactions.

In keeping with the times, ITPO is on the internet with its own web page http://www.indiatradefair.com. Access to trade-related information is an area that is being accorded increasing priority by ITPO. With the setting up of the National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI), jointly promoted by ITPO and the National Informatics Centre of the Government of India, at Pragati Maidan in October 1994, ITPO apart from maintaining its own databases with regard to products and markets, is also regularly interacting with NCTI for supplementing its information base.

In fact, ITPO's Trade Information Centre is well equipped to provide up-to date information on world markets and product requirements as well as built up data on the Indian Industry. The Centre meets the information requirements of a growing number of Regular and Associate Members of ITPO through the Indian Export Bulletin (ITPO's weekly journal.) ITPO also publishes a bi-monthly journal "Pragati India" to disseminate information on export capabilities of the different sectors of industry to overseas readers.

• Organising various trade fairs and exhibitions at its exhibition complex, Pragati Maidan, and other centres in India.
• Extending the use of Pragati Maidan for holding trade fairs and exhibitions by other fair organisers both from India and abroad.
• Identifying and nurturing specific export products with long range growth prospects.
• Cultivating overseas buyers through timely and efficient services.
• Establishing durable contacts between Indian suppliers and overseas buyers.
• Assisting Indian companies in product development and adaptation to meet buyers requirements
• Organising Buyer-Seller Meets and other exclusive India Shows in order to bring buyers and sellers together.
• Organising India Promotions with Department Stores and Mail Order Houses abroad
• Participating in overseas trade fairs and exhibitions.
• Arranging product displays for visiting overseas buyers
• Inviting overseas buyers and organising their meetings with Indian suppliers.
• Providing assistance in locating suitable foreign collaborators for transfer of technology, joint ventures, marketing tie-ups and investment promotion
• Organising seminars/conferences/workshops.
• Encouraging and involving small and medium scale units in export promotion efforts
• Conducting in-house and need-based research on trade and export promotion.
• Enlisting the involvement and support of the State Governments in India for promotion of India's foreign trade.
• Promoting establishment of facilities and infrastructure for holding trade fairs in State Capitals or other suitable locations in India, in consultation with State Governments concerned

1. Conference Hall at Hall No. 7
• Seating capacity -200
• Secretarial Rooms -2
2. Auditorium in Pragati Bhawan
• Seating capacity -100
3. onference Facility in Hall of Special Displays
• Seating capacity -200

1. Shakuntalam Theatre
• Seating capacity -367
• Stage area -80 sq. mtrs.
2. Hamsadhwani Theatre (Open Air)
• Seating capacity -3500
• Stage area -310 sq. mtrs.
3. Lal Chowk Teatre (Open air)
• Seating capacity -1200
• Stage area -275 sq. mtrs.
4. Shringar theatre (open air)
• Seating capacity -900
• Stage area -208 sq. mtrs.