Logistics
Ruby anniverary reflections from Ravi at R. E. Rogers
Chairman and MD of leading India-based logistics specialist, R. E. Rogers, Ravinder Sethi, looks back at his company’ s 40-year journey and marks event organisers’ cards for making success out of the huge market that is India
EW: R. E. Rogers is in a big celebratory year – 40th anniversary. Give us a brief resume of the highs and challenges of that journey. It seems like yesterday that my wife, Kiran, and I started a company in a small office in Delhi offering specialised exhibition logistics services in India – a service unavailable in the country in those days. Many thought this vision was just an illusion as the Indian exhibition industry itself was minuscule at that time. We were hungry and aggressive from the very beginning and it wasn’ t long before we became market leaders.
Five of us started on that illustrious journey and, 40 years later, 200 of us pan-India continue to be market leaders in what is now a mammoth industry eyed by the world.
Our main challenges later came not from within but from outside.
Two epidemics hit our industry in the last quarter of a century that could have broken us.
SARS in 2002 / 03, though mainly limited to the Far East, affected our business badly. It was a huge challenge as exhibitions accounted for almost 95 % of our revenues in those days. Luckily, sheer grit and perseverance saw us through those months.
Covid was worse. At this time, over 80 % of our revenues plummeted to zero – literally overnight!
We didn’ t lose hope. As customs / cargo services came under essential services, we remained open and targeted any logistics related work. We started getting revenues and stayed afloat.
Our biggest achievement during Covid was not retrenching a single employee, cutting salaries, or delaying any agents / vendors’ payments.
Left: In times of crisis R. E. Rogers learned how to pivot, just like its machinery
We decided to never be dependent solely on one vertical again, i. e. exhibitions and started to focus on our other verticals: defence projects, complex cargo, free trade zone services, live events, etc. We were now not just specialists for exhibition logistics but for all time critical verticals.
The top management from our CEO Sudhir Dhavan, COO Sushil Upadhyay, COO( Defence & Aerospace) Manoj Kumar, CFO Lalita Singh, and down the line to all levels, continue to be the heroes of our success.
The Rogers family proudly talks about the‘ mantras’ for our success:
• Lead the way and set the rules.
• Set quality standards for others to follow.
• Keep pace with the technical and digital revolution.
• Maintain relationships, both internally and externally.
• Retain our culture and humility.
EW: The world can be a risky place now, particularly in the Middle East, however our events industry is nothing if not resilient. And the recent release of the jwc consultancy’ s GIPR report has ranked India No. 1 in the Market Attractivity List based on data analysed from 33 markets. In these new multi dimensional rankings
India also featured 8th in the Global Top 10 Exhibition Markets in 2025. What are the reasons for this? The GIPR report has said something which I’ ve been propagating for some years now. The vibrancy in our exhibition industry is correlated to the vibrancy of our overall economy.
I’ ve spoken further of the‘ FIVE Ds’ being the backbone of this vibrancy. Let me elaborate:
• A strong‘ Democracy’ giving confidence to investors that their businesses and money are secure. A strong legal system is in place.
• The mammoth‘ Development’ of infrastructure, both at the macro level( roads, airports, etc.) and the
12 Issue 2 2026 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk