STONA CAPTURING 4TH POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL STONE FAIRS
Event Date: 07.02.2018 To 10.02.2018
Venue: International Exhibition Center, Bangalore
STONA 2018 the 13th International Granite and Stone fair held at Bangalore International Exhibition Center, Bangalore from 7th to 10th February 2018 occupied a Gross area of 60,000 sq mts and net area of 31,000 sq mts accommodating 650 exhibitors from India and Abroad. There were country pavilions from Turkey, China, Italy and individual exhibitors from Portugal, Tunisia, Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, Morocco, Oman and other countries. Exhibitors from all over India representing quarrying, processing, machinery manufacturers, tools & abrasives, chemicals, shipping agents, publications related to stone industry, associations and federations participated in the fair. State Governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat had participated in a big way with their booths.
The overwhelming participation of exhibitors and visitors in STONA 2018 registered a growth of about 40 % in terms of area and participants as compared to STONA 2016. This exponential growth in participation by exhibitors and visitors broke the previous records of all other stone fairs in the world.
The fair was inaugurated on 7th February 2018 , by releasing balloons and cutting ribbon. Mr. Vinay Kulkarni, Hon’ble Minister of Mines, Government of Karnataka attended the programme. On this occasion, Exhibitors Directory and CD were released by the guests.
For the first time, the Federation had invited Ambassadors of various countries to visit STONA to have first hand information on the Natural stone Industry in India. All the Ambassadors were also present on the dais.
After the inauguration, the delegation visited all the halls. There after a Trade Meet of the Ambassadors was held . Since the stone processing industry is facing severe shortage of raw materials, this meeting was organised to explore possibility of getting new materials from across the world.
In the morning of 8th February 2018, a seminar on “Natural Stone Usage in Environmental Green Architecture” was organised to educate the budding architects to understand the usage of natural stones in Green Architecture. Mr. Kamal Malik , Padmsree G. Shankar, Ms. Bhavana Bhat, Mr. Pradep Sachedeva and Mr. Peter Rich addressed and presented their papers in the Seminar. Students from engineering colleges were invited to attend the seminar to get guidance from eminent architects, who came from various parts of India and abroad.
In the afternoon of 8th February another seminar on “Natural Stone In the world : Facing the new Challenges” was conducted under the banner of WONASA –World Natural Stone Association. The participants included Paulo G Giafarov, DCG, Brazil, Rogerio Moutinho, MGLW, UK and Ferrnando Bolta, Ceramiche Dautona, Italy . Mr. Anil Taneja, Editor, Litos, from Spain was the moderator. The Indian industry participated in this seminar to understand various challenges faced by the stone industry in the world.
In the morning of 9th February 2018, a panel discussion on the government policies for sustainable quarrying, environmental protection and economic growth was organised. Officials from Central Government Department of Mines and Geology and officers of various state governments also attended the panel discussion to understand various government policies on quarrying sector and other issues .
In the afternoon of 9th, a meeting of IMM Carrara was held and Ms. Carolina Meanti, from IMM Carrara made a presentation on the ensuing marble fair at Carrara during June 2018 and invited the stone fraternity to participate in this fair.
The Valedictory Function was held in the morning of concluding day on 10th February 2018. Mr. R.C Choudhry, Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, was the Chief Guest while Mr. Sidda Raghava Rao, Hon’ble Minister of Environment and Forests, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Mr. R.V. Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, Hob’ble Minister for Mines and Geology, Government of Andhra Pradesh were Guest of Honour in the Valedictory Function.
During the valedictory function the first committee members (founder members) of the FIGSI ( EC members of 1983-84 ) were felicitated and the pioneers of the Stone Industry of India were honoured. As per the tradition of the Federation, various categories of awards were presented during the event. All the sponsors were also felicitated.
To encourage students to take up geology as a major subject so that the natural stone industry will be in a position to get qualified hands, the Federation had selected three candidates who were recommended by their universities and they were presented with a meritorious certificate and cheque for Rs. 25,000/- each.
STONA 2018 was a grand success and as per the feedback received from the exhibitors and the visitors, they were in a position to get good exposure and business enquiries during the STONA fair.
STONA 2018 was able to earn a net profit of Rs.11.00 crores even after paying a rent to Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, Bangalore for four halls, its cleaning, management and maintenance. It is a remarkable achievement in the history of Indian Dimension Stone Industry which was possible only because of the combined and collective hard work put up by a team of talented and experienced people of stone fraternity. The pragmatic approach of Mr. R. Sekar, President, FIGSI, and the team spirit shown by Mr. Ishwinder Singh, Chairman, STONA, Mr. Manoj Kumar Singh Treasurer STONA, and the whole Managing Committee Members led STONA reach new heights in its way to progress. Their concerted efforts and hard work in coming years will, no doubt, bring STONA to the third position in world stone fairs with the event to be held in 2020.