India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) may proudly name it as India International Trade Fair, but the two-week affair at the Pragati Maidan is turning out to be nothing more than a pure desi mela.

Talk of international participation - there are just 14 nations which have put up their stalls in the trade fair. Of these half the number is of SAARC nations.

ITPO, the nodal trade promotion agency for Government of India, has its overseas offices in several prominent cities of the world like Frankfurt, Tokyo, New York, Dubai and Moscow. Barring Russia, it has failed to impress any of the nations where its offices is located, leave aside the developed countries. Italy is the sole representative from Europe with just a single stall of a company selling automatic gates and traffic barriers.

Talk about the seriousness with which the event is treated - of the handful of countries that have taken part - a large number have nothing but colourful posters on display in their stalls. "Efforts are needed to bring in the big international players. Foreign nations did participate in the past. Now there are hardly any. They have realised that this is not the right place for them," said a senior ITPO official. And this is no state secret.

"This is the trend all over the world. Global companies are going for business-oriented events in their field of specialisation. The trade fair is very general in outlook in comparison to specialised expos for auto industry, engineering, software, medicine and other products," explains D K Jain, Manager (Public Relations), ITPO.

"Besides, a large number of multinational companies now have their plants in India so they are clubbed with the Indian companies," he added.

And finally, imagine the trade part. Officially, the event is supposed to provide a major forum for national and international buyers, sellers and representatives of business organisations from all over the world to interact and draw-up long terms business plans.

But does it happen at all? Do not ask the ITPO, for the nodal trade promotion agency of the Government of India does not itself know the quantum of trade which happens during the fair.

"We do not know what is the amount of business transacted during the trade fair. These are certain grey areas which we need to work on," said a senior ITPO official pleading not to be quoted. Except the lifestyle section, we deal through the states and ministries directly and allot them pavilions. The states in turn give these to companies and other private participants. Thus no record is kept for the business transacted, he added.

Then how does one describe the trade fair as a huge success when there is no record of the business it does?

"Lakhs of people are visiting the fair and there is not an inch of free stall space in Pragati Maidan," answers ITPO officials. This is what the country's nodal trade promoter keeps itself happy with. And of course, there's the biscuits, jams, Himalayan herbs and olive oil, under the garb of "international trade".