The India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2017, which was thrown open to the general public on Saturday, drew a mixed response from scores of people thronging Pragati Maidan. While a large number of visitors were happy, many were disappointed as they had hoped for some new attractions. Entry was strictly regulated and only those with the genuine passes were being allowed.

According to Sanjay Vashishth, spokesperson of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO): “At a time only 60,000 people were being allowed within the arena and no free entries were entertained.”
Hemant from Noida, who is a regular at the trade fair, said it was not very different from previous years. “In fact I am happy that the fair is being held in a smaller area, which means less walking,” he said. The huge halls of earlier have been replaced by makeshift stalls.

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Similar views were echoed by Narendra Kumar and Pooja who too did not feel “that things were radically different this time around”. Their only complaint was that since all the states were crammed into one hall, it has become difficult to distinguish stalls of the different states. They were quite happy with their purchases and had no complaints about the prices.

Another regular, Indu, seemed disappointed as she was expecting something different this time. She was unhappy with the lack of space and felt claustrophobic while exploring the stalls.

Vishnu and Sai, two young regulars at the fair, looked clearly disappointed with the lack of military hardware on display this time around. They felt that the fair did not have too much cutting edge technology. “The exhibitors are charging way too much for their products,” said Vishnu.

Dharmendra was visiting the fair for the second time and had mixed feelings. While he was happy that many things on display were useful, he was not keen to buy anything as he felt that prices would come down drastically as the fair reaches its ‘climax’, and then he could make a ‘killing’.

The Chinese pavilion wore a deserted look and most of the Chinese exhibitors were winding up. Eve who was selling construction material said they were closing shop because they felt that the Indian people were not aware of their products and hence there was lack of response from them.