India to host Dubai-like annual mega shopping festivals

Besides the local manufacturing and MSME Sector, the planned shopping festival is expected to give a boost to tourism, hotel, hospitality industry in the country as it will be organised on the basis of themes namely gems and Jewellery, handicrafts, yoga, tourism, textiles and leather.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman annunced that India will now hold annual mega shopping festivals similar to the way held in Dubai. The festival will be organised across the country in four different destinations by March 2020.

Besides the local manufacturing and MSME Sector, the planned shopping festival is expected to give boost to tourism, hotel, hospitality industry in the country as it will be organised on the basis of themes namely gems and Jewellery,handicrafts,yoga,tourism,textiles and leather.

"The themes shall vary. There sall be gems and jewellery, handicrafts, yoga, tourism, textiles and leather so that there is a grater push and promotion, a global thrust for immediately for people to come and see and make their connections, make their contact for large scale purchases or for instantly having ideas of connection between manufacturers and sellers."

"So this mega shopping festivals will enthuse all the small and medium manufacturers of our handicrafts and also who are linked with tourism to benifit from," she said.

However the names of cities in which the festivals will be held were not disclosed by the finance minister. Soon, the names will be decided by the union commerce ministry.

Dubai Shopping Festival

Popularly known as DSF, Duabi Shopping Festival is held across Duabi in the UAE. Held for over one month in December-January every year, the event attracts millions of tourists from across the world.