IITF shows India is back in business, says Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said initiatives of the  India International Trade Fair (IITF) is reflective of the resilience of the Indian economy bouncing back. Inaugurating the  40th  IITF, in New Delhi,Goyal said with the trade fair one of the finest and country's largest convention centres will come up in the Pragati Maidan complex.  Goyal said the launch of this trade fair reflects the five sutras of Indian economy, exports, infrastructure, demand and diversity. He complimented IITF organisers for consistently holding the fair and attracting lakhs of visitors. Goyal said despite the lockdown India did not default on any service support to the global community. India has been witnessing historic high of FDIs. Highest ever FDI in first 4 months. It's 62 % higher than samw period last year. IITF will show India is back in business, he added.
The theme of this year's fair is Aatmanirbhar Bharat.  Goyal said this edition of IITF is seeing record participation as more than 3000 small and big businesses are taking part. The minister lauded the organisers for providing stalls free of cost for women and MSME entrepreneurs. He said other MSMEs including startups have been given a 40 per cent discount by ITPO. The fair will continue till November 27. The annual event, which witnesses record footfall, was not held last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Bihar is the Partner State whereas Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are the Focus States. Over 1,500 exhibitors from India and overseas are participating with the display of a large range of products and services. Twenty three States, UTs and 34 Central Ministries, Commodity Boards, PSUs  and Government Departments are participating in this event.
As many as nine foreign countries including  Bangladesh, Bahrain, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and UAE are participating in the fair.The first five days of the Trade Fair are exclusively reserved for business days and it will open to the general public from  November 19 to 27. The timings of the fair will be  9.30 A.M. to 7.30 P.M. IITF tickets for both Business Days as well as General Days can be purchased from Customer Care Centres of  65 Metro Stations. For Divyang and Senior citizens the entry into the fair will be free.