Hyderabad's 'Numaish' off to colourful start

Hyderabad, Jan 1: Numaish, Hyderabad's popular annual trade fair, got off to a colorful start on the New Year's Day on Sunday.

The 82nd edition of the All India Industrial Exhibition, popularly known as Numaish, was inaugurated by Telangana ministers Harish Rao, Mohammed Mehmood Ali, T. Srinivas Yadav, and Vemula Prashanth Reddy.

They later went around the sprawling Numaish Maidan in the toy train to have a look at stalls set up at one of the world's oldest annual consumer exhibitions.

As many as 2,400 stalls have been set up on the sprawling Numaish Maidan in Nampally in the heart of the city for the annual 45-day-long exhibition. Every day the exhibition will be open for visitors from 3.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.

The All India Industrial Exhibition Society (AIIES) has allotted stalls to traders and various business organisations from different parts of the country to sell their products at the fair.

The organisers have this year hiked the entry fee to Rs 40 from Rs 30 per head. They said free Wi-Fi will be made available across the grounds. The society has tied up with BSNL to provide the facility for communication and business activity.

Addressing the inaugural function, Finance Minister and AIIES President T. Harish Rao said while in this digital age products can be purchased online at the click of mobile phone but such shoppers miss the ambience, social interaction, different cultures and various types of food habits which the Numaish offers.

He recalled that the Numaish made its beginning in 1938 and it is known as one of the oldest and biggest trade fairs in the world.

Harish Rao pointed out that AIIES, which organizes the annual event, is running 19 educational institutions, providing quality education to 30,000 students. The society is also running educational institutions to empower women.

The society is providing direct and indirect employment to 10,000 people every year and playing a key role in enhancing Hyderabad's brand image, he added.

Numaish-e-Masnuaat-e-Mulki, or Numaish in short, made a humble beginning in 1938 as an event to promote locally-produced goods.

It was a group of graduates from the Osmania University who came up with the idea of an exhibition to conduct an economic survey of the state.

The seventh Nizam of Hyderabad State, Mir Osman Ali Khan, inaugurated the first 'Numaish'.

Enthused by the good response, it was decided to make it an annual event and use the earnings to promote education.

Beginning with just 50 stalls and a capital of Rs 2.50, it has today evolved into one of the biggest industrial exhibitions in the country.

Numaish could not be organised in 1947 and 1948 due to the turmoil in the aftermath of India's Independence. With Hyderabad acceding to the Indian Union, the event bounced back in 1949.

The exhibition could not be held in 2020 due to Covid-19 situation. This was only the third time in its history that it could not be held.

Last year, the Numaish was suspended a day after it was inaugurated by the state Governor in view of the curbs imposed by the government to check the spread of Covid-19. It was later organised from February 25.

Traders from various parts of the country set up their stalls during the exhibition, which is visited by 45,000 people every day. Over 20 lakh visitors had visited the exhibition in 2019.