CPhI voices the combined opinion of over 100,000 attendees globally and will continue to do so

CPhI India and its co-located event P-MEC, are one of the largest events for the pharma sector in South Asia. This year, CPhI & P-MEC India has a new address: India Expo Centre, New Delhi. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India divulges more details on this year’s editions of these events, their key highlights and the impact they intend to create, in an exclusive interaction with Lakshmipriya Nair

How will CPhI 2018 differ from its previous editions?

With every edition of CPhI, we succeed in bringing about an unparalleled thought leadership, community building and knowledge sharing experience that stands out from any other fair. Consistently every year, we are keen to push the national agenda forward and break new frontiers, while offering our attendees the much celebrated features. By organising such a signature show in India, the CPhI-PMEC under the aegis of the India Pharma Week (IPW) firmly establishes the country as an impressive hub and global destination for the sector.

Within the realm of the IPW, the CEO Roundtable stands out as one of the most distinguished and successful events. For the last two years, the exclusive, closed-door CEO Roundtable has been eminently successful as a strategic gathering of CEOs of the nation’s leading pharma companies who deep dive into thought-provoking discussions on subjects. The recommendations from elite thought leaders results in a White Paper Report that is presented to policy makers and the power corridors of the nation.

This year, we move forward the country’s agenda of making India an uncontested Pharma Supergiant for the first time, to international shores, at CPhI Worldwide, in Madrid where eminent CEOs from the industry will participate in Discussion 1:  ‘The Global Perspective’. This will subsequently be followed by Discussion 2: ‘National Perspective’ at the India Pharma Week in Greater Noida. Both the discussions will form an integral part of the 3rd edition of the CEO Roundtable.

For this edition, we have also added two new segments, under the India Pharma Week: a Paper Presentation — To boost and encourage the excellence of the young minds entering the industry, where a jury will pick top post graduate students to present their thesis on pharma during the Awards night and a Master Class – a feature that will consist of prestigious speakers from top organisations setting stage for knowledge sharing.

Apart from these, some exciting facets at the expo are; Innovation Gallery (an arena where participating pharma companies will be encouraged to showcase innovations on an international platform), and Exhibitor Showcase (a platform where exhibitors demonstrate how their new product launches are going to be effective).

The India Pharma Week will be held from 10-14 December, 2018 (with the CPhI & P-MEC expo being held from 12th to 14th December) at the India Expo Centre, Greater Noida with space of 235,000 sq.m will have a week full of knowledge sharing and networking up its sleeve. The activities will include Pharma Leader’s Golf, Plant Visits, Pre-Connect Congress, India Pharma Awards followed by a Networking Evening, Women Leaders in Pharma and a CEO Roundtable.

The event has shifted base from Mumbai to Delhi. What have been the plans underway to make the transition smooth and hassle-free for the participants and the visitors?

One of the core commitments of UBM worldwide is to put our customers at the center of what we do and attend to their needs in dynamic ways. Keeping this in mind, the move of India Pharma Week – a weeklong celebration, packed with avant-garde events from Mumbai to Greater Noida, NCR will prove truly beneficial and convenient for the vast magnitude of exhibitors and visitors.

Given the stupendous growth of the show, and the infrastructural and travel logistics hitch in Mumbai, we felt it would be extremely beneficial to have a bigger, consolidated venue that offered the entire spectacle under one umbrella. Besides, the Delhi-NCR region has become the heart of India for holding some of the biggest events in the country. Being in close geographical proximity to policy makers, consulates and government bodies, the show is poised to enhance the industry’s community building efforts.

To smoothly incorporate the shift with due deliberations with our key long-term customers and buyers, we announced the move several months prior as we were deeply committed to making a grand success of the first CPhI and P-MEC show in the Delhi-NCR region. This also provided stakeholders more time to firm up their plans for the event. During the show, we will also be providing bus shuttle services from in and around Delhi, NCR to the venue for hassle free commute for visitors and exhibitors. We also have dedicated freight forwarding companies who cater to our exhibitors requirements with regards to releasing their m