IIJS 2006

Inauguration Day

The India International Jewellery Show 2006 started with the inauguration by Shri. Shankar Sinh Vaghela, Union Minister of Textile Industry, Indian government, who became the chief guest for the show, since the original chief guest Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister, Maharashtra, was unable to attend, due to his presence in the funeral of Pramod Mahajan.

Mr. Vaghela did promise in his speech of taking the woes and problems of the gem and jewellery industry to the central government and convince them the benefits of the rise of the gem and jewellery industry. Mr. Vaghela released three books namely, 'Exhibitor’s Catalogue', 'India’s Foreign Trade in Gems & Jewellery' and the 'Directory of the Trade'. Mr. Bakul Mehta, Chairman of GJEPC was mighty pleased with the smooth functioning and the turn-out at the show. Mr. Naveen Jashnani gave the vote of thanks and it ended with the minister's visit of the entire long exhibition, covering many halls.

The Inauguration day also hosted a number of launches, such as, 'Jewelex Men's Bands', Kashi Jeweller's two product launches, namely 'Sunshine' and Exuberance'. Vanshi, unveils the wedding collection and Gitanjali unveils its marketing plans and investments in India. Each day promises a fashion show and other entertainments specifically for the foreign delegates.

There are 800 participants and 1500 stalls at the NSE Complex, Bombay Exhibition Center, Goregaon East, Mumbai. This B2B exhibition will last till Monday 8, 2006. The turnout on the first day was impressive and the GJEPC council is hoping for minimum 30,000 visitors. The whole exhibition took days to set up, since the Bombay Exhibition Center is just a bare large hall, more of a converted warehouse. "We had to built everything, right from restrooms, to cafetaria, halls, medical center, security, air-conditions and of course the stalls," clarified Mr. Jashnani, adding, "Mumbai does not yet have a permanent large exhibitor hall, like New Delhi has. What halls Mumbai has are not too large enough to accomodate so many stalls, facilities and people. Despite having a cafetaria, theres no drinking water available, specially in this searing heat.

Two major seminars were held today. One on 'Branding, advertising and corporate identity' and the other on 'Effective promotions'. The speakers were: Mr. Santosh Desai From McCann Erikson and Professor Sydney Prabhu respectively.