Hyderabad: The 84th edition of All India Industrial Exhibition, popularly known as Numaish is all set to start in Hyderabad with the New Year. The popular annual trade fair, which is part of the city’s culture, is eagerly awaited by people.
One of the world’s oldest annual consumer exhibitions, it attracts thousands of visitors every year.
While in this digital age products can be purchased online at the click of mobile phone, there are many shoppers who prefer Numaish for the ambience, social interaction, different cultures and various types of food habits which it offers.
More than 2,000 stalls have been set up for 45-day-long fair on the sprawling Numaish Maidan in Nampally in the heart of the city.
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 traders will sell handlooms, readymade apparels, electronic goods, home furnishings and toys. The visitors to the fair also relish chat, pani puri, haleem, kebabs and enjoy different rides.
On weekdays the Numaish will be open from 3.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. and on weekends i.e., Saturday and Sunday it will be open till 11 p.m.
This year, visitors to the Numaish will have to shell out a little more than previous year with the entry ticket price hiked by Rs.10 from Rs.40 to Rs.50.
AIIES has announced that entry for children below the age of five years continues to remain free and those aged above five years will be charged Rs.50.
The society uses the revenue generated through the event for funding the student education at the educational institutions managed by the society.
The Society is running 19 educational institutions, providing quality education to 30,000 students. The society is also running educational institutions to empower women.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was scheduled to inaugurate the exhibition on January 1. However, due to seven-day mourning announced by the Telangana government as a mark of respect for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on December 26, the inaugural ceremony has been postponed to January 3.
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 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.
In 2022, 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.
