RX Global India recently held the MAPIC India Thought Leadership & Awards on 10 March 2021 at JW Marriott, Aerocity in New Delhi. This not only marked the revival of the event and exhibition industry after a period of lockdown during the pandemic but also the return of face-to-face events for RX Global India.

MAPIC India Thought Leadership & Awards was the first face-to-face networking and conference event in India since the pandemic connecting peers across retail and the retail real estate industry. The event was held in line with RX Global’ enhanced health and safety measures and government guidelines in place.  It received an overwhelmingly positive response from participants, sponsors and speakers.

Ashna Sharan, Portfolio Director, MAPIC India commented: “It was a delight to receive all our customers and visitors in-person again.  We are witnessing first-hand the changing dynamics of retail and the retail real estate industry.  This is a first step to prepare and embrace the changes happening in our industry and use them to our advantage as we revive the industry and establish the roadmap towards rebuilding post-pandemic.”

With Arklan as the title partner for MAPIC India Thought leadership & Awards, the event was supported by the biggest names across retail and the retail real estate industry including: Infiniti, Ambience Mall, Unity Group, Omaxe World Street, Faridabad, Nexus Malls, DLF Malls, Good Earth, TREHAN Iris, Green Honchos, Vegas Mall, Urban Square, Mall Design Partner, Rare Rabbit, Chaayos, Safe Express and Da Milano, to name a few.

With on-going government restrictions in place, 222 participants in person representing decision makers, CXOs and CEOs from across the industry, attended the event.

The event was honoured with the presence of Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State, Minister of MSME, Government of India as the Chief Guest and keynote speaker. Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi highlighted the industry’s contribution towards the growth of nation and spoke about India’s role in fighting COVID-19. With the intent to connect peers across industry, and to provide a platform for industry to share knowledge and experience, the event kicked off with four curated sessions attended by 23 famous thought leaders and speakers. The speaker panel included;  Rehan Huck, Co-Founder, Arklan, Mukesh Kumar, CEO, Infinity, Zorawar Kalra, Founder, Massive Restaurants, Rajesh Jain, CEO, Lacoste.

Looking to connect beyond borders amid travel restrictions, MAPIC India successfully concluded a hybrid session on ‘Navigating the growth in an uncertain economy by understanding the changing face of retail’ with Pankaj Renjhen, COO & Jt MD OF Anarock Retail as moderator present at the event. Renjhen mentioned: “The new hybrid format of bringing international industry leaders together to participate virtually and live, is definitely a recommendable opportunity for MAPIC going forward.” 

Other speakers attending online included: Daniel Spinath, Founder, Crepeaffaire, UK, Syed Kazmi, International Business Director, HEMA, UK, and Cristiano Iezzi, Co-Founder, Chouse Italia Srl, Italy. All the sessions at the event and conference not only contributed to the overall knowledge sharing but also established a sense of confidence for the industry stakeholders.

Daniel Spinath, Founder, Crepeaffaire, UK applauded the overall experience with the words: “A good show with a positive attitude - way to go!”

Anuj Mathur, COO, RX Global India commented: “Our mix of power-packed interactive sessions, face to face interactions, awards ceremony and ability to forge relationships in person and virtually set the tone for retail businesses.”

Mapic India Awards – Most anticipated highlight of the event

The grand highlight of the show was the MAPIC India Retail Awards - powered by Vegas and supported by DLF malls, Omaxe World Street, Faridabad, Ambience Mall, Nexus Malls, India Retail Tech Awards, and MAPIC India Awards for Shopping Centre - presented by ARKLAN, supported by Rare Rabbit. The awards programme celebrated and recognised outstanding achievements across retail and the retail real estate industry for the financial year 2019-2020. The industry awards, launched in 2019 have become not only the prestigious awards across industry India but also the most anticipated. The awards received 91 nominations across 38 categories, with 50+ brands competing to be in the spotlight. Decathlon, Skechers, Tata Croma, Nexus were among the prominent winners of the awards. View all winners at https://www.mapic-india.in/en-gb/Awards/Award-Winners-2021.html

To mark it all, RX Global India, confirmed the dates of MAPIC India, India’s biggest event for retail, retail tech, and retail real estate for September 29 – 30 2021 at the Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai with a teaser video titled #Letsgrowbacktogether.

Health and Safety measures implemented at the show

• • Compulsory body temperature check at the entrance.

• • Compulsory wearing of mask for all attendees, organisers, vendors.

• • Contactless registration process (no physical contact )

• • Social distancing maintained at the venue and in the conference centre

• • No handshake policy

• • Hand sanitizers available throughout the venue

• • No cash policy, with payments accepted through cards and electronic medium onlyCOVID-19 guidelines and communications were placed throughout the venue and at entry and exit points.

About RX Global Global

RX Global is a leading global events business. It combines face-to-face with data and digital tools to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across 43 industry sectors, attracting more than 7 million participants.  Our events leverage industry expertise, large data sets and technology to enable our customers to connect face-to-face or digitally and generate billions of dollars of revenues for the economic development of local markets and national economies around the world.   RX Global is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.www.reedexhibitions.com

About RELX

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX.  The market capitalisation is approximately £34.8bn,  €40.4bn,  $47.7bn.*

*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at https://www.relx.com/investors