Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mela and Krishi Udyog Pradarshani

What is the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mela and Krishi Udyog Pradarshani?

Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mela and Krishi Udyog Pradarshani, the All India Farmers' Fair and Agricultural Industry Exhibition, written in Hindi as अखिल भारतीय किसान मेला एवं कृषि उद्योग प्रदर्शनी: is a four-day event organised twice a year by Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, on its own campus in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand.

Pantnagar is India's first agricultural university, and the mela is the point where its research reaches farmers directly. The event is old and continuous: the edition held from 13 to 16 March 2026 was the 119th, which places the series well past half a century of twice-yearly editions. The 118th ran from 10 to 13 October 2025 and the 117th from 7 to 10 March 2025. Locally the event is also called the Pantnagar Kisan Mela and, in university publicity, the Krishi Kumbh.

The purpose is straightforward. A farmer in the Tarai or the hills rarely gets to see a new variety, a new implement and the scientist who developed it in the same place on the same day. The mela puts all three on one ground, alongside the private agri-industry that actually sells the inputs, so that a decision about next season's seed or a machinery purchase can be made after seeing the thing work.

Main features

• Held twice a year, normally in March and October, for four days.
• Organised by GBPUAT Pantnagar on the university campus.
• Free entry for farmers; paid stalls for agri-businesses.
• Sale of university-bred seed directly to farmers, a major draw at every edition.
• Livestock show and auction, the university publicity for recent editions records a pregnant Murrah buffalo heifer selling for Rs 1,40,000.
• Millet and coarse-grain (Shri Anna) product displays at the joint stall of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
• Competitions with prize distribution at the closing ceremony.
• Guided visits to the instructional dairy farm and poultry farm during the mela.

Who can take part in the Pantnagar Kisan Mela?

Farmers and visitors

• Any farmer, farm woman, farm labourer, student or general visitor may attend. There is no application, no fee, no domicile requirement and no landholding requirement. Farmers from outside Uttarakhand attend too, the fair is styled "Akhil Bhartiya", all-India, for that reason.
• Farmers who want to buy university seed, saplings or inputs should carry cash or a payment method and come early on the first days, since popular varieties sell out.
• Farmers wanting to enter competitions, crop, vegetable, livestock and produce categories, should ask at the mela office on arrival for the entry rules of that edition.

Firms and exhibitors

• Any agri-input, seed, fertiliser, pesticide, machinery, irrigation, dairy, poultry, food processing or agri-finance firm may book a stall by submitting the registration form and paying the fee.
• The firm must hold a GST registration, because the receipt is issued only in the name appearing on that registration.

Who is not eligible or cannot take part

• A firm that applies after the stall registration window closes for that edition cannot be accommodated, because stall space on the mela ground is finite and is allotted in advance.
• A firm that cannot produce a GST registration cannot get a receipt in its own name, since the form expressly bars issuing the receipt in any other name.
• A firm that insists on choosing its own spot on the ground is not eligible to hold the allotment, the undertaking on the form requires it to set up exactly where the university allots.
• An applicant seeking a cash subsidy, grant or loan is not eligible. Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mela and Krishi Udyog Pradarshani is an extension and marketing platform, not a financial assistance scheme, and pays nothing to participants.
• A firm that will not sign the no-polythene undertaking cannot exhibit.

What documents are required for a stall?

How to apply for a stall at the Kisan Mela

1. Watch the university mela page at gbpuat.ac.in/mela for the announcement of the next edition. The page carries the poster, the invitation letter, the brochure, the pamphlet, the letter to farmers and, separately, the stall registration form for that edition.
2. Download and fill the stall registration form. It asks for the firm's name, the name and Aadhaar number of the firm in-charge, the nature of the business or display, the full address, the GST number, the office or mobile phone number, the amount, and the demand draft or UTR number with date.
3. Pay the stall fee. The fee depends on the size of the stall and is charged with CGST at 9% and SGST at 9% added to it. Pay by demand draft or by transfer, and keep the UTR.
4. Attach the photocopies — Aadhaar of the in-charge, GST registration and the UTR, as the form requires.
5. Sign the three undertakings printed on the form: that the firm will not use polythene anywhere in the mela ground during the mela; that it will set up its stall only at the place allotted by the university administration; and that it will not seek a refund once the receipt is issued.
6. Submit the form with the payment to the Mela Prabhari (Mela In-charge) at GBPUAT Pantnagar. The form has an office-use block where the accountant and the Mela Prabhari sign, and where the application is marked स्वीकृत / अस्वीकृत: approved or rejected.
7. Collect the receipt and the allotment, then set up on the allotted plot before the opening day.

How much does a stall cost?

GBPUAT prices stalls by size, and the registration form shows the fee broken into the base stall fee, CGST at 9% and SGST at 9%, with a total. The university does not publish a single standing rate card that holds across editions; the rate for a given edition appears in that edition's brochure and registration form. A firm planning a budget should therefore work from the current edition's form rather than from a figure quoted for an earlier mela.

For farmers, the cost side is different and simpler: entry is free, and the money changes hands only if you choose to buy seed, saplings, inputs or livestock at the fair.

What can a farmer actually get out of attending?

• University seed of released varieties, sold directly by GBPUAT at the mela. Recent editions record heavy sales, and the university publicises this as a headline outcome.
• Face time with scientists from the crop, horticulture, veterinary, agricultural engineering and home science faculties.
• Machinery demonstrations by the agri-industry exhibitors, which is the practical value of the Krishi Udyog Pradarshani half of the event.
• Livestock auction and show, where high-yielding animals are shown and sold.
• Krishi Vigyan Kendra stalls, including the joint KVK stall which in recent editions has focused on millet and coarse-grain (Shri Anna) products.
• Competitions and prizes, distributed at the closing ceremony.
• Farm visits to the university's instructional dairy farm and poultry farm, advertised separately for each mela.

The university has also launched a website, pantkisanservice.com, for sale of its extension services and products, linked from the mela page, useful for a farmer who cannot travel to Pantnagar in the mela window.

Where to ask questions

• Directorate of Extension Education, GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand 263145. The university wing that runs the mela.
• Mela Prabhari (Mela In-charge), GBPUAT Pantnagar; named on the stall registration form as the signing authority for stall allotment.
• gbpuat.ac.in/mela. The official page carrying, for each edition, the poster, invitation letter, brochure, pamphlet, letter to farmers and stall registration form.
• Your district Krishi Vigyan Kendra, which usually organises group travel of farmers to the mela.

GBPUAT does not publish a dedicated mela helpline number or a standing stall rate card on the public mela page, and the dates shift by a few days between editions. A firm or a farmer planning to attend should confirm the dates and the current stall fee from the edition brochure on gbpuat.ac.in/mela before travelling or paying.