What's worse than the chaos on our roads? Our Auto Expo!

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

Going by the sky-high rents that the 11th Auto Expo in Delhi commands - which are, on a per-square-metre basis, second only to the Shanghai Auto Show - it evidently has pretensions to being a world-class fair.

But going by the utter chaos that prevailed right from the first hour of the first day and the colossal mismanagement of media accreditation and crowd control facilities, it was more like a lawless town mela, where just about anything goes.

Intimations of impending disaster were available even on the first day, when the barcode reader for the passes and badges failed to work at the gates, leaving attendees queuing up in the cold, wintry Delhi morning. If that seemed like an inauspicious start, things only got progressively worse from there on.

More from Business

Hyundai India’s Rs 27,870 crore IPO oversubscribed by 2.28X, largely driven by institutional investors How Indian fintech startups are driving Malaysia’s UPI-like digital payments revolution

On a day when the Expo was open only for business and media, entire families-with high-decibel, high-maintenance children in tow-overran the show, swamping the grounds and cramping the mindspace of those who had professional duties to carry out. Private security guards battled valiantly to control the crowds, but it was a lost cause.

[caption id=“attachment_174512” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“When Katrina Kaif arrived for the Audi Q3 launch, it took her a while just to get out of her car because of the hordes that gathered to get a glimpse of her.Reuters”]  [/caption]

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

Tata Harrier EV vs Mahindra XEV 9e: Design and road presence compared

As Trump weaponises tariff, Fed sees a bigger worry: Not jobs, but rising prices in America

Evidently, tickets for the general public had been sold even on days set aside for the media and business. Ironically, owing to a flawed registration process, the media badges of many genuine newspersons were never made out, which meant that they could not gain entry to India’s premier auto expo.

The bizarre sight of 10-year-olds setting off a veritable stampede and scrambling to grab the press kit (and the gifts that accompany them) that were distributed at the various launches capped what was an afternoon of utter chaos. The media kits were evidently coveted for the fancy booklets with photographs of the gleaming cars.

The pandemonium and the hysteria got a lot worse: by the time Bollywood stars took the stage for the launch at Mercedes, things had become utterly unmanageable. Launches by Tata Motors, Jaguar and Land Rover all witnessed surging crowds that came to gawk at the stars without a modicum of consideration for those who had professional responsibilities to carry out. When Katrina Kaif arrived for the Audi Q3 launch, it took her a while just to get out of her car, given the hordes that gathered outside the hall in their hundreds just to get a glimpse of her.

Ahead of the expo, the various stakeholders - from CII to SIAM to ACMA - had claimed that immaculate preparations had been put in place and that the fair would be a smooth ride for the media and exhibitors. But every one of the promised arrangements fell hopelessly apart.

Worse, confronted with this chaos, the exhibitors were left to fend for themselves, in the absence of any members of the organising committee. “We have taken things up with CII and ITPO on so many occasions earlier, but at every expo it’s the same old story,” says a top official from a luxury car maker, speaking on condition of anonymity. “No one is interested and nothing ever gets done.”

Overseas media, foreign guests and almost all exhibitors, who routinely attend such fairs the world over and are used to seamless and flawless efficiency, have voiced similar angst about the Delhi Auto Expo. Many of them fret in private that organisational efficiency has deteriorated badly from last year, and worry that it could get progressively worse.

Here’s what might help to retrieve the expo from being an utter disaster. The steering, organising committee and the ITPO should enforce stringent crowd management plans. As for the future, it might help to get the media accreditation process begin six months ahead of the expo - and ensure that only genuine reporters from established media houses are allowed to register.

On the days when the fair is open to the general public, effective crowd control systems are needed to avert the virtual stampede we routinely witness.

Lastly, it might be good to keep out those who only want to get up-close and personal with Bollywood stars at such fairs. There is much professional work to be done and business to be conducted - and the whole world is watching.

Pranbihanga Borpuzari works for Entrepreneur magazine.