The ambience of the penultimate day of the three-day mega pharma festival of India - Interphex India 2007 and Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) Convention 2007 - showed every sign of the beginning of a new dawn in Indian pharmaceutical industry.

The IPA convention, with emphasis on sustaining competitive advantage of the fast growing Indian pharmaceutical industry, has discussed almost all the developing areas and current strengths of domestic industry.

The first day of the convention itself recorded around 1000 on-the-spot registrations, taking the total delegation to 2000 industry members. Right from the inaugural session, where Satish Reddy, managing director and chief operating officer, Dr Reddy's Laboratories noted the growing strengths of Indian pharmaceutical sector, the event presented the vitality of the industry.

One of the major attractions of this event, according to the delegates, was the ambience itself. "The halls were never overcrowded and had enough space for the delegates who were keen on following the presentations," said Subodh Priolkar, president, IPA. The IPA delegation alone recorded a hit of 520 delegates. Till the end of second day, the exhibition witnessed more than 4600 visitors, according to the organizers.

Interphex India 2007, the major pharma event forayed into the country after wielding its splendor in various other parts of the world, became the major attraction of the event. The exhibition, mainly designed for generating business for the exhibitors, has picked up its pace on the second day of the festival.

"On the second day of the exhibition, more people were coming to the stalls and we expect more people in the third day, as the weekend would be preferable for many major customers," said, Sahil Shah, executive director, Chamunda Pharma Machinery Pvt Ltd.

With the encouraging initial response to the exhibition, the organizers are expecting around 10,000 visitors by the final day of the event. "The visitors of the exhibition are coming with genuine business interests and most of these meetings would result in business. So, we expect a considerable sum of business through the exhibition than whatever it generates in other similar events," noted, Subodh.

The exhibitors' response also becomes a testimony for these claims, it seems. Michel Chang, international business manager, Shanghai Tofflon Science & Technology Co Ltd, says, "It is a very good exhibition and very quality people are visiting the exhibition. We are interested to attend the event next year also."

Shradha Sinha, executive assistant, Nishotech Systems Pvt Ltd, says, "We got a lot of visitors in these two days. Several foreigners visited us, which helped for knowledge sharing. We are happy with the exhibition, as it provided to be an opportunity to interact and share the information."

Pravin Mhapankar, said, "It is a good exhibition, as there are a large number of visitors coming into the stall with genuine interest for business relations. We are happy with the exhibition." Ajit Singh, chairman, ACG Worldwide, added that it is a distinctively improved exhibition and there is over all quality also. The company expects the exhibition would be much bigger one proving the success of the venture, he averred.

Andy Dumelow, product manager, Equipment Sales, I Holland Ltd, said, "It is a nice exhibition and we are very happy with the response to the exhibition." According to Ashish Vankar, manager, exports, Cemach Machineries, the event was a unique experience, which put up a nice exhibition and attracted only right persons.

Aashish K Nair, regional sales manager (South), N K Engineering Co, maintained that the company is getting many customers and are interested to participate in the next time also."

"We got a good response from the visitors and many of them are interested in buying the products," claimed, M M Panchal, director, Fluidpack Manufacturers and Exporters.

The event attracted 100 per cent participation - 40 per cent form business development, 41 per cent from technology and manufacturing business, 16 per cent from research based activities and the rest five per cent from other industrial participations, including funding and product manufacturing support for the pharmaceutical players -, the organizers said.