PITEX concludes, sees higher footfall this year

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 16

The five-day trade fair, Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX-2019), concluded here on Monday. The expo managed to get a higher footfall of over 3 lakh, in comparison to the previous year mark of 2.40 lakh.

While the main attractions were stalls by the MSME Ministry, the National Small Industry Corporation (NSIC) and those from Thailand, the Rajasthani and Punjabi food, too, proved to be a crowd-puller this year.

The PITEX attracts buyers of consumer goods, who visit the trade expo on weekend. A number of Central Government departments such as the Ministry of MSME, NABARD, Ministry of AYUSH, the National Egg Corporation, the National Jute Board, the National Coir Board, etc also took part and garnered good response. Several key B2B interactions regarding logistics and business expansion opportunities’ were also held during the trade fair.

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash, who attended the valedictory ceremony on Sunday, said the cost of logistics (cost of transporting goods to customers) in India was 30 to 40 percent higher than the global standards and reducing it was a challenge.”

“There is a plan to invest about Rs100 lakh crore on development of infrastructure for logistics and we are looking towards schemes to decrease the cost.” He called upon industrialists to take advantage of Central Government’s schemes and expand their business and create more employment opportunities. The Union Minister said the role of industry was important in the economic development of any country or region.