NEW DELHI—The India Label Show, organized by Labelexpo Global Series, that took place on December 3-6 at Pragati Maidan New Delhi, has been hailed a success.
Despite the atrocities in Mumbai just five days previously, which caused a number of people to cancel their travel plans, the event attracted nearly 5,000 visitors from India, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. It was a tremendous effort demonstrated by the label industry in India, and the show attendees displayed their utmost commitment to the industry's development and growth.
The exhibition had almost 200 exhibitors with plenty of working machinery on display. There were live demonstrations running continuously throughout the duration of the show. Nilpeter, Gallus, Gidue, HP, Jandu, Rotatek, Weldon Celloplast were among the most attended stalls where visitors had a unique opportunity to see the latest technology in action, ask questions and experience the entire label workflow first-hand. The show achieved its primary role - to gather the best examples of machinery and materials from a wide variety of international and Indian manufacturers and enable visitors to compare technology and make their decisions on future investments.
And many exhibitors noticed how focused and knowledgeable the visitors were - they came prepared to discuss their opportunities and plan the future growth of their business according to its potential.
"I was pleasantly surprised to see such a focused crowd", said Mrs Cristina Toffolo, Managing Director of Gidue. "Visitors to our stand were very well-prepared, they knew what they were looking for and our team were eager to answer their questions."
Samir Patkar, Business Manager of Gallus added: "In the current situation of the credit crisis and the tragic terror attacks in Mumbai the India Label Show delivered the right audience for us. The quality of attendees was very high; we saw approximately 80 percent of our customers who were willing to do business with us. It is a great result for us."
In addition to the exhibition, the India Label Show ran conference sessions on the first three days of the show. The conference was chaired by Mike Fairley, label guru, and Andy Thomas, Managing Editor of Labels & Labeling. The conference explored the most important subjects in the label community, among which were: brand protection, the future of digital technologies, end user requirements and successful print buyer - converter partnerships. The panel discussions had a mix of end users, designers, converters and suppliers; there was a lively discussion from the floor as label experts reviewed challenges facing the label industry in India and pondered on best solutions for suppliers, converters and designers to jointly deliver a successful product for the end-user. Brand owners, Colgate, Moser Baer, Unilever, Ranbaxy, among others, made a very valuable contribution to the debates.
On the first evening of the show, the Labels Group organized the Indian Label Awards 2008 on behalf of LMAI (the Label Manufacturers Association of India). At the gala evening which had 650 attendees, the best Indian printers and converters were recognized and awarded for their excellence and contribution to the advancement of the Indian label industry. Manish Desai, the President of LMAI, and Roger Pellow, Managing Director of the Labels Group, were joined on stage by Ms Mandira Bedi, a Bollywood star who orchestrated a glittering evening of award presentations and entertainment. Raj Srivinasan, Managing Director of Avery Dennison India, said he was honoured to be involved in the LMAI awards and in his leadership of the company in India he pledged full commitment to the growth and development of the label industry in India.
Roger Pellow, Managing Director of Labels Group, commented on the India Label Show, "I am very pleased with the results we've had at the India Label Show. This is the first exhibition that the Tarsus Labels Group has organized in India and considering the very difficult economic situation and the terrible atrocities that happened recently in Mumbai, the feedback that we've had is that the who's who of the Indian label industry were at the show, the printers came to do business and the quality of attendees was excellent.