According to him, event management is a new concept in India and is slowly picking up. An event management outfit needs good infrastructure and a highly qualified marketing team. Of course, the financial requirement would vary with the nature of business at hand. The requirement may vary from Rs 20,000 to as much as Rs 5-6 crore, says Babra.

Candidates seeking a placement in this segment should ideally possess a masters degree in business management from a reputed university. Besides, they should be adept at handling product launches through musical nights, fashion shows, etc.

While the creative team works on new ideas for the event, the production team provides the technical and support systems for the event. Babra explains thatevent management is a sophisticated way of sending messages to a large audience about a particular product or cause. The best thing about this concept is that information get disseminated in a short time-span.

Companies usually have the budget to advertise a product, but lack the physical and human infrastructure to carry forward their plans. ``This is where the role of an event management firm gains importance,'' says Babra. ``All you have to do is give us your budget and the product that's to be launched. Once that's done we decide on how to organised the launch event. Of course, the client organisation is free to give in their suggestions.

Besides, we help them work out the budget and even organise sponsors for the client if necessary,'' he says. ``For instance, a company wants a pop star to perform at the launch of a car, but does not have the kind of resources to match the star's fees, his security and other needs. In such a situation, our marketing team plays a major role. They arrange for sponsorsfor the event,'' he says. Interestingly, Babra points out that during the Kargil operations the number of events that were organised in support of the soldiers were actually targeted for publicity. ``It was like killing two birds with one stone. You do your bit for the national heroes and at the same time advertise your products in front of thousands of people,'' he adds. In Delhi there are 360 event companies which have come up over the past two years.

Event management is not restricted to musicals and fashion shows. They could take the form of seminars, consumer exhibitions, technical exhibitions or even an event that involves the participation of foreign companies.It takes three to four months to organise a technical exhibition, says Babra.