A triennial exhibition and a fair to showcase opportunities in the plastic industry in the East is unlikely to get a large contingent from China as it used to be in the past due to difficulties in obtaining visas to enter India.

China is the world’s largest processor of the material and also a maker of machineries used in processing.

In the last edition of Indplas, in 2022, about 15 per cent of the exhibitors were from China alone.

The Indian Plastics Federation, the organiser of the show, slated to take place in February 2025, is expecting only the Chinese companies who have representative offices in India to come to the B2B fair in Calcutta.

“There are issues with obtaining Chinese visas. So, we are not expecting a large contingent this time around,” Ashok Jajodia, chairman of ‘Indplas 25’, said.

Sources said there were long delays in obtaining Indian visas for Chinese nationals, discouraging trips to this country.

Many industries, especially electronics and information technology, are facing the crunch.

While the diplomatic ties between the two countries have been frosty ever since the clash in the Galwan valley in 2020, impacting the movement of nationals, the situation appears to have further worsened in the last two years.

The organisers of the fair, however, said they do not expect any let-up in demand for space due to the absence of the Chinese. “We are expecting contingents from eight countries, including Taiwan,” Jajodia said, adding there would be 500 participants in 2025.

The organisers claimed more people would have joined the show if there was a bigger exhibition place. “We are being forced to ration space among exhibitors or deny some people. The city certainly needs a bigger fairground,” he pointed out.

The show, themed as ‘The Future is East’, is taking place at Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan (formerly Milan Mela) where 9,000 square feet will be offered to the exhibitors.

Organisers say the growth of plastic industry in the East, especially Bengal, is outpacing the national average underscoring the interest from the trade.

There are about 6,000 plastic processing industries in Bengal clocking annual turnover of about ₹35,000 crore and employing 6 lakh workers, Alok Tibrewala, regional chairman (east) of The Plastic Export Promotion Council, said. “We are still importing 40 per cent of the state requirement from the rest of India and 10 per cent from abroad.”

Bengal can attract many more industries if it gets a deeper port and the perception of the state improves in the outside world. The plastic federation later requested state industry minister Shashi Panja to look into the matter. Industry expects another ₹3,000-crore investment over the next three years.