This year IITF through its Digital India Theme is aligned to fulfil the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. The theme assumes special significance in order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology.

The Government has launched the Digital India programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has also emphasised on bringing transparency and accountability in all its activities. Few of them are signing of GSTN MOU, creation of EXIM Analytics Dashboard, etc.

As part of Digital India programme, ITPO has shown how fair as big as IITF having 7000 participants spread over 1 lakh Sqm exhibition area can be made digitally. ITPO for the first time introduced online space booking system. The system enabled participants across countries and states to seamlessly book space of their choice by paying online through use of payment gateways. Further, till last year purchase of online tickets was for business days only, however, online sale of tickets has been mainstreamed for all days of IITF 2016. Introduction of online sale of tickets facilitated visitors to purchase of tickets conveniently and quickly without standing in queues. Many visitors have opted for purchase of tickets through online this year. The number of online ticket sales has increased from 2896 to 15574 till 21.11.2016. ITPO has also developed Mobile Application for IITF 2016 which is user-friendly and provide trade fair information available on finger tips. The mobile app is a fully enhanced catalogue in user’s pocket which provides contact access to exhibitor list, generation information, floor plan, search facility of product display, facilities to visitors and navigation facility.

The demonetization process further gave a fillip to Digital India initiatives. To assist small scale enterprises, artisan and Exhibitors/ participants ITPO tied up with SBI, AXIS bank, Paytm and Free-Charge for enabling cashless transactions by the visitors. Till 21.11.2016, SBI and Axis Bank, provided 292 nos. and 55 nos. respectively of swipe machines (POS) and Paytm and Free-Charge enabled 700 nos. and 370 nos. respectively of e-wallets.

Digital transformation enables cashless transactions and online booking at public trade fairs, expanding ticketing and exhibitor services. The fair implemented a digital transformation by introducing an online space-booking system with payment gateway integration, expanding online ticketing to all event days, and deploying a mobile application providing exhibitor contacts, floor plans, product search and navigation. Cashless infrastructure was established through bank-supplied point-of-sale terminals and digital wallet partnerships to enable electronic payments and support small enterprises and exhibitors.