NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday opened the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) complex at Pragati Maidan in Delhi and unveiled its new name, Bharat Mandapam.
The redesigned IECC complex has a campus area of around 123 acres and was created as a national project for a cost of nearly Rs 2,700 crore.

Around 3,000 visitors, including cabinet ministers, business leaders, celebrities from the film industry, and others, were present for the inauguration event.

The IECC complex is India’s largest MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) destination. In terms of the covered space available for events, the complex finds its place among the top exhibition and convention complexes in the world.

It comprises multiple modern facilities, including convention centres, exhibition halls and amphitheatres.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister performed “pooja” at the redeveloped complex and interacted with the workers who were involved in the construction of the complex and felicitated them.
PM Modi says India will be among world’s top 3 economies in his third term
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid bare his blueprint for a third term of his government, saying India will become the third largest economy in the world with a faster growth rate than now. Modi government will complete 10 years in office next May and he is seeking a third term on development plank.

“We have to achieve the target of making India a developed nation in the next 25 years,” he said after unveiling a world-class convention centre in the heart of the national capital.
India can definitely eradicate poverty, he said citing a NITI Aayog report that talked of 13.5 crore poor being lifted out of poverty.
Reeling out statistics of development from the number of airports to railway line electrification to expansion of city gas during his nine-year tenure, the Prime Minister said India was the 10th largest economy when the BJP government took office in 2014.
The country is now ranked fifth in the world behind the US, China, Germany and Japan.
“We will make India a developed nation working on the principle of nation first, citizen first,” he said inaugurating the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) complex which he renamed as Bharat Mandapam.
Modi said that when his government took office in 2014, the Indian economy was at the tenth position and now it is at the fifth position in the world.
He said that India will be one of the top three economies in the world in his third term.
The next general elections are due in May 2024.
He said that Bharat Mandapam, which will host the G20 summit in September under India’s presidency, will promote conference tourism.
“World will witness rising stature of India when newly built Bharat Mandapam will host G20 summit,” Modi said.
He slammed people with negative thinking for trying to stall development projects, including the convention centre.
Just like privately accepting the grandeur of Kartvya Path, a ‘toli’ of negative thinkers will one day acknowledge Bharat Mandapam also, he added.
(With inputs from PTI)