Delhi to get its second mega exhibition-conference centre next month

The national capital will get its second world-class exhibition-conference centre with the inauguration of the first phase of the India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC) at Dwarka next month, a senior official has said.

The first phase of the project has been built at a cost of over Rs 5,400 crore, the official said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the centre in September 2018. The IICC is being developed as a modern centre to promote meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) activities to attract and promote business and industry. The project is being developed in two phases. In phase-I, a convention centre and two exhibition halls with adjoining foyer and related support facilities have been developed. Phase-II will include three exhibition complexes, arena, hotels, retail and office spaces.

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The complete project is planned over an area of 221.37 acres at Dwarka Sector 25 at an estimated cost of Rs 25,703 crore. The total land size of the project is more than Bharat Mandapam’s 123 acres. “The IICC is slated to be one of Asia’s largest facilities for Global MICE events. The project showcases the strength of India’s growth potential in the MICE sector,” IICC Dwarka Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sumita Dawra said. “The demand for such a facility is evident in the fact that we already have major global level events lined up till October 2024,” she said.

It is expected that the centre will bring New Delhi into the league of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore in the sphere of the exhibition market, according to the commerce and industry ministry. The phase-1 project area is 8.97 lakh sq metres and the total built-up area is 1.8 lakh sq m. The built-up area includes the exhibition area, convention centres and arena. The area covered by the convention centre is 73,195 sq m. In the first phase, two exhibition halls with a covered area of 1.07 lakh sq metres will also be inaugurated. In all, the convention and expo centre will have five exhibition halls, three of which will come up in the second phase.

The convention centre, she said, has the space to host over 11,000 participants and will be one of the largest covered spaces created in the country. It will also have an auditorium with a seating capacity of 6,000 and a ballroom with a capacity of 2,500. The first phase will have 13 other conference rooms with a capacity ranging from 68 to 822 people. The centre is near the Delhi International Airport as well as the business hub of Gurugram. Dawra said dedicated access to the Delhi Airport Express Metro Line has been provided, which is a part of the first phase. While Bharat Mandapam comes under the Department of Commerce, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is implementing the convention and expo centre through its fully-owned entity IICC.

Kinexin Convention Management Pvt Ltd, a consortium of Korea International Exhibition Centre (KINTEX) and eSang Networks Company Ltd, has been appointed as the operator for exhibition and convention centre for managing the venue for 20 years. Development of the IICC and supporting components will help India grab a bigger slice of the world market share of hosting major international events and exhibitions. Within Asia, China accounts for more than 68 per cent (4.1 million sq m) of the total available space for exhibition facilities, while India has only 0.3 million sq m, accounting for 4.9 per cent of the share of Asia.

In terms of events hosted across Asian markets, Chinese venues took the lead by hosting more than 515 (28 per cent) events in Asia annually, as compared to Indian venues hosting 131 events (7.1 per cent). The absence of high-end world-class exhibitions and conference facilities has dented India’s abilities in this space.