The Bengal Chamber of Commerce, along with GS Marketing Associates, organised the 18th edition of The India International Mega Trade Fair at Science City Grounds, Kolkata, between December 14th - 25th, 2019.

His Excellency Shri Jagdeep Dhankar, Hon'ble Governor of West Bengal inaugurated the Fair along with Shri B B Chatterjee, President, The Bengal Chamber.

Others present on the Dias were Shrimati Sudesh Dhankar, Hon'ble 1st Lady of The State, Janab Toufique Hasan, Hon'ble Deputy High Commissioner of People's Republic of Bangladesh, Ms. Sweeya Santipitaks, Consul General, Royal Thai Consul General Kolkata, Shri B S Mishra, Regional Manager - Marketing, LIC of India, Eastern Zonal Office, Ms. Upekka Samaratunga, Minister Commerce, First Secretary Commerce, Sri Lankan High Commission, New Delhi, His Excellency Lyonpo Loknath Sharma, Hon'ble Minister for Economic Affairs, Royal Govt of Bhutan, Mr. Mohd Mansoor Sahak, Commercial Attache, Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Afghanisthan and Mr. Prakash Shah, Chairman, Organising Committee, India International Mega Trade Fair.

Trade fairs, conferences, business events, economic forums and exhibitions can be defined in a unified manner as sophisticated platform for conducting business on a national and international scale. These Trade fairs are a high-impact method to disclose new products, services and trends.

Every where in this world, these fairs are a great stage for head to head, business-to-business communication for exhibitors and visitors from any branch of the industry. It is more than just a marketing tool as the entire marketplace is at one's fingertips. As a source of market information they fulfill needs in a centralized way. They provide an excellent opportunity to assess opinions from clients and determine market potential, conduct research and evaluate competition, develop commercial structures by identifying new agents and distributors, and initiating joint ventures and project partnerships.

The Chamber's main aim through this Fair is to bring Bengal to the economic forefront of our country through the Fairs by helping to increase the business relations between West Bengal with other states and countries.

This year, this Mega Trade Fair had 15 Foreign Countries Bhutan and Sri Lanka as the Focus Countries, Bangladesh and Afghanisthan being the Partner Countries and Thailand and Iran, as the Highlighted Countries. Karnataka and Maharashtra were the Partner States with Delhi & Jharkhand being the Focus States in the Fair.

Very interestingly, this year we had sizeable escalation of footfalls which may have had crossed over 1.2 million visitors, which included industry leaders, high government officials, corporate decision-makers, manufacturers, traders, foreigners and a large number of buyers.