How India International Trade Fair has become a scouting ground for start-ups

The India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2015 which started from November 14 is the event where many start-up players are heading to as they scout for artisans and vendors.

The fair which will continue till November 27 brings together participants, from across the world, who sell authentic and traditional products here.

“The mega events like the IITF bring artisans from all over the country at one place. This provides start-ups like ours an opportunity to build business contacts with prospective suppliers and to assess the quality of their products,” Rishabh Jain, co-founder, TheFamousKart.com, told Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).

Many start-up ventures which want to expand their businesses and delve into newer areas of business are always on a lookout for vendors and artisans and the trade fair is an ideal place for such scouting.

“We have been focussing on expanding the product variety on our online space. Events like IITF have given us the venue to meet and connect with prospective associates to expand our product categories,” Ranjith K.S., technical director at Graameen.in, told IANS.

Though many start-up players hope to find new associations at the trade fair, there are many challenges. Uprooting an artisan from their town/village and bringing them here to the city is a tough task at hand.

However, Rohit Bhatiani, director, Deloitte in India told news agency IANS that after ironing out the initial difficulties in operations and tailoring the needs in accordance to artisans and startups can yield substantial returns.