



Dilip Guha ★ New Delhi :: India’s rapid urbanization and industrial growth have brought the critical need for robust transportation and infrastructure management to the forefront. The TrafficInfratech Expo, in its 12th iteration, has emerged as a pivotal event, showcasing advanced solutions to meet these growing demands.
Held at the iconic Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, the expo spanned three days from October 22nd to 24th, 2024. It was a melting pot of innovation with exhibitors from nine countries, featuring over 70 product categories and more than 300 brands. Notably, 21 companies made their debut, indicating a burgeoning interest in India’s infrastructure sector.
The event was a collaborative effort by Messe Frankfurt Trade Fair India and Virtual Infosystems Pvt Ltd, reflecting a global perspective on local challenges. The concurrent shows, Road Infratech Expo and Parking Infratech Expo complemented the main event by offering specialized insights into road and parking infrastructure—two areas that are integral to urban planning and development.
Indian infrastructure is undergoing rapid transformation across its vast landscape from rural to district to state to national to international levels. This is changing the face of public infrastructure facilities used by the transportation and logistics segment. As urban centres across India grapple with mounting challenges related to vehicular congestion, road safety, parking, and traffic management, the need for advanced infrastructure solutions has never been more pressing.
These issues compound due to the burgeoning population and rising vehicle ownership, particularly in metropolitan regions.
Against this backdrop, the TrafficInfratech Expo emerges as a vital platform for stakeholders seeking smart, sustainable, and scalable solutions against the challenges. The expo offered a comprehensive platform for industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators to discuss the latest advancements in traffic management, road infrastructure, and parking solutions, as well as expo-hosted conferences with subject matter experts on crucial areas.
As India continues to navigate the complexities of modernization, events like the TrafficInfratech Expo play a crucial role in shaping the country’s infrastructure landscape. They foster dialogue, encourage the exchange of ideas, and ultimately contribute to the nation’s journey towards sustainable and inclusive growth.
With various government efforts to transform mobility infrastructure in India, Smart Cities Mission, PM Gati Shakti, Viksit Bharat, Bharatmala Paryojana, and more, have led to establishing new developments, and routes and upgrading the existing infrastructure.
TrafficInfratech Expo presented solutions that are smart, tech-based, AI-based, and backed by various emerging technologies and advancements. The show brought together the manufacturers and solution providers from nine countries which include India, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Slovakia, Taiwan, the UAE, and the USA. The solutions aimed at reducing commuting time, traffic congestion, improving road safety, manage mobility and which can thereby lower emissions.
About 86 exhibitors showcased products and technologies that aim to improve the daily management of traffic management, roads, and parking with better solutions by the authorities in turn improving the convenience for commuters.
Across three days, the event facilitated high-level closed-door conferences led by industry experts on the future of India’s traffic, transport and infrastructure landscape. Some of the key discussion topics focused on: Mobility India: Green to Greener; Challenges in Road Safety; Next generation solutions – Government commitment to Next Generation of ITS in India; Vision Zero: Targeting Road Safety by 5Es with Innovative Technologies and more.
On the inaugural day, Chief Guest Shri Mahmood Ahmed, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said, “First of all I thank everyone, the organizers and participants as you are rendering great services by doing something for the country and the world by imparting safety. There will be many discussions happening over the three days of the expo on smart mobility, road infrastructure, and the transport sector. I believe the out of these discussions shall identify gaps, suggest possible solution which can be collectively presented to us with your suggestions, so we can add our bit and get those implemented, making our transport and traffic infrastructure sustainable and safe.”
MrJayram Nair, Chairman, of VIS Group, expressed: “This year, I am happy to see the product innovations and vibrant displays by various exhibitors. I feel delighted that the expo is rightly bridging the gap between solutions that matter and the respective user industry. This year, the expo has about several new exhibiting companies and participants from around nine countries. I am delighted to see the enthusiastic support from the esteemed ministries, industry bodies, exhibitors, and delegates who add value to the expo, making it more relevant.”
Commenting on the technology aspect of the expo, Mr Raj Manek, Executive Director, Messe Frankfurt Asia Holdings Ltd, shared: “It is great to witness the scale of innovations on the show floor. The expo is bringing forward tech-based new solutions that are going to be an integral part of traffic management operations and infrastructure-related solutions. We certainly need solutions that can enable effective management of dense road networks and traffic congestion and management systems that make parking hassle-free. These technologies will help streamline traffic movement.”
The expo has also garnered support from various regulatory bodies/ministries and associations including Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) and National Highway Builders Federation (NHBF).
Hon’ble Minister Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, graced the expo with his presence on the concluding day, visited the Expo and highlighted road safety initiatives and the integration of AI.
Gadkari underscored the alarming statistics of road accidents in India, noting that the country experiences around 5 lakh accidents each year, resulting in numerous fatalities. He said road safety cannot be achieved without integrating advanced engineering solutions, enforcement of laws, and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence. The Minister highlighted that more than half of these casualties are in the age group of 18-36 years. The economic loss due to road accidents is estimated at 3 per cent of the country’s GDP.
In his address, he shared: “At the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) we are already building a lot of expressways and axis-controlled roads. All these developments are targeted to bring down accidents as 60% of deaths today are between the age groups of 18-36 years. We are using the latest technologies available across the globe for road construction and are also involving young and talented engineers from India for better engineering of roads and impart safety. On the law enforcement front, we are using the best technology that captures the person driving along with the vehicle number in cases of violations.
He stressed that improving road safety is a top priority for the government, and measures are already underway to address this issue. We are implementing all kinds of advanced technologies in the road safety ecosystem such as the use of AI to make roads safer.
We are appointing experts from the private sector to deal with these subjects. With this, we will be looking ahead to develop and implement a system that takes care of law enforcement, manages tolls, and also keeps an eye on road quality and health. This project will be finalized in the next three months, so a system is developed that can be implemented first on major highways and later be leveraged by respective state governments.
Regarding this, our focus is on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) who can provide us with consistent quality products.” He also stated: “The road safety infrastructure will see huge growth in India in the near future. Even the sector is so promising that the stakeholders have a huge market for exports as well.
Further, quality will play a key role as good quality will help them fetch export markets.”
With India’s growing infrastructure and road networks, various products powered by smart technologies, AI-based tech solutions and more are entering the industry. This will serve to be a critical step in taking India’s mobility, infrastructure, traffic, and parking management to the next level. These solutions will offer several benefits like real-time tracking, monitoring, surveillance, help reduce road accidents, GNSS toll collection, and more. The advanced technology and product implementation will serve to be highly advantageous for the road management authorities, municipal corporations, and companies that are associated with the maintenance of roads and their construction, managing traffic, handling parking management, and more.
The Indian government has intensified its focus on developing tech-based infrastructure through various initiatives and projects aiming at better connectivity and management. Initiatives such as the Smart Cities Mission, National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), Gati Shakti, Viksit Bharat and others, are fuelling a wave of investments and innovation which are also boosting the capacities of Indian manufacturers.
Brands like Aditya Infotech – CP Plus, Arcadis-IBI Group India, Asian Paints PPG, Cubic Corporation, DataCorp Traffic, HIKVISION India, Hofmann, Jindal India, Kent Intelligent Transportation Systems, MetroCount, Norden Communication, Prama India, Samrid Automations (Sparsh CCTV), Tecsidel India and many prestigious brands presented their latest offerings.
