Page 28 - Plastics News February 2018

FEATURES

Plastindia 2018 concludes successfully

The 10 edition of Plastindia 2018 exceeds expectations with over 200,000 visitors
th
he 10 edition of PLASTINDIA 2018 international eyes a buoyant future with nearly the consumption of
th
Tplastics exhibition, conference and convention plastics by packaging alone in the next years. The Energy
concluded successfully last week, The exhibiton was held Minister Saurabh Patel said: "A Plastindia International
during 7 -12 February, 2018 at The Exhibition Center, University will be set up in Vapi on 50 acres of land and
Gandhinagar, Gujrat. This year the exhibition ,as claimed, offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses."
has taken India’s plastics trade a notch higher with over The state chief secretary JN Singh, who was present
2000 exhibitors exhibiting their works at the colossal at the inaugural ceremony, said: "80% of the plastic
international exhibition. manufacturing units across Gujarat are MSMEs which
Supported by the Government of India, Government create jobs. To fuel the industry further, we've announced
of Gujarat and iNDEXTb, this year the exhibition had the establishment of a specialised institution for plastic
engineering and technology.
“The exhibition was all about empowerment and bringing
a change in attitudes towards plastics and its uses. This
exhibition was meant to help end users understand
plastics better by offering more viable choices and
options in research , product development, technology
sourcing and more importantly, getting enabled by
trade and investments,” said Rajeev Chitalia. Amongst
several initiatives flagged off this year, one of them was
the Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) supported by the
Ministry of Commerce.
Explaining Rajeev Chitalia says, “We had also deployed
Gujarat’s Chief Minister , Vijay Rupani; Finance and
Energy Minister Saurabh Patel; Chief Secretary of several tools through digital communication channels and
Gujarat, Dr. J. N. Singh; President Plastindia foundation, web-based technologies. The complete digital platform to
K. K. Seksaria; Chairman –NEC, PLASTINDIA 2018, Rajeev manage one’s booking and services are through a specially
Chitalia, MD Opal, Avinash joshi, Ind. Director, ICL Parindu created customized software, which allows visitors to pre-
K. Bhagat, and others present for the inaugural session plan their visit and also research who they would like to
and thereafter. meet and what would they like to see at the exhibition.”
To ensure that PLASINDIA 2018 is about ‘Empowering
Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani inaugurated 10th edition of Growth’. The organisers had gone the extra mile to
PLASTINDIA 2018 at the Exhibition Center, Gandhinagar, ensure a memorable experience, with a lot set to unfold
Gujrat . Speaking at the inauguration Vijay Rupani said , for the befit of exhibitors and visitors over the six days.
“The plastics industry is growing at 16% growth rate and Rajeev Chitalia, said “We hope that our exhibitors had a
so, it is considered that India might be the third largest pleasant and successful exposition, and our visitors got
plastic consumer by 2020. To support this, the Gujarat all the opportunities they were looking for indeed. With
government is supporting the plastics industry by forming deliberate promotions and over 80,000 visitors having
special policies and a university for plastics industry in registered online , the stage was already set for one of
Vapi where innovations ; startup and research are also the biggest plastics exhibitions in this part of the world.
aiming at increasing the MSMEs in Gujarat. One of the
most eco –friendly states.” The Reverse Buyer Seller Meet or RBSM was held in
collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, Government
With Gujarat being a policy driven state. It is only state of India so that hosted buyers from across the globe could
to have formed special policies for the plastics industry, have a one-on- one with exhibitiors at the fairgrounds.
the Gujarat government has started working on a second Rajeev Chitalia said that the reponse so far had exceeded
plastic park at Sanand. The Indian plastics industry surely all expectations.

Plastics News Feb ruar y 2018 28