Helipad Exhibition Centre (HEC) in Gandhinagar is where many of Gujarat's large B2B trade shows now take place. If your company has booked a stall there, or you are weighing it against an Ahmedabad venue for your own expo, this guide covers what the campus offers, how to get there, where your team should stay and how to plan the build so the stall is ready on opening morning.

AUM Event builds exhibition stalls and runs trade shows across Gujarat from our Ahmedabad office. The notes below come from that work and from the venue's published facts.

Helipad Exhibition Centre at a glance

Address: Near Jilla Panchayat, Sector 17, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382016.
Size: a 45-acre campus with over 1,00,000 sq m of exhibition space and about 25,000 sq m of open area.
Halls: 13 exhibition halls in six sizes, so one campus can hold a single large show or several smaller events at once.
Floor load: 25 tonnes per sq m, enough for heavy machinery, vehicles and industrial equipment on the floor.
Parking: about 2,500 cars.
On-site facilities: a two-storey admin block with a VVIP lounge, press conference room, media lounge and meeting rooms, permanent registration counters at the entrances, and two permanent kitchens for a food court.
Operator: the centre was developed by K and D Communication Ltd (KDCL). Venue bookings go through hecgujarat.com.

Do not confuse it with Mahatma Mandir, the convention and exhibition centre in Sector 13 that hosted the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in January 2024. Mahatma Mandir suits summits and conferences with exhibitions attached. HEC is built for floor-heavy trade shows.

How to reach Helipad Exhibition Centre

From Ahmedabad airport: about 18 to 19 km. Allow about an hour by road at show-opening time, when traffic into Gandhinagar is heavy.
By train: Gandhinagar Capital railway station is about 4 km away. Kalupur, Ahmedabad's main station, is about 25 km away, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours by road.
By bus: GSRTC buses run between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar through the day.
By metro: the Ahmedabad–Gandhinagar metro line is being extended into the capital. Check the current stations before you plan your staff's commute around it.

For a team of more than a few people, a hired tempo traveller or a fixed shuttle from your hotel works out cheaper and more reliable than individual cabs, especially on the last day, when every exhibitor is leaving at once.

Where exhibitors stay

You have two choices. Gandhinagar hotels, led by The Leela Gandhinagar above the Capital railway station, keep your team within 10 to 15 minutes of the halls but fill quickly during big shows. Hotels in north and west Ahmedabad, around Motera, Chandkheda, SG Highway and Thaltej, offer more rooms and rates. They add 30 to 50 minutes each way.

Book rooms as soon as your stall is confirmed. When a large show overlaps with a wedding-season weekend, hotels on both sides of the city sell out.

Planning your stall: a working timeline

8 to 10 weeks out: get the organiser's exhibitor manual. It sets the stall height limit, fire-safety material rules, power-load request deadlines, the contractor registration process and the build-up and dismantling windows. Everything else follows from it.
6 to 8 weeks out: fix the design. Decide between a shell scheme and raw space. A 2-side or 3-side open stall changes where you put the reception counter, the product display and the meeting area.
4 to 6 weeks out: submit drawings for organiser approval, order power in kW for lights, LED screens and any running machinery, and book water or compressed air if your demo needs it.
2 to 3 weeks out: print graphics, prepare brochures and giveaways, set up a lead-capture method (a QR form beats a fishbowl of visiting cards), and brief the stall staff on who handles which enquiry.
Build-up days: the fabricator's crew builds, the electrician connects to the organiser's supply, and you check the stall against the drawing before the organiser's inspection.
Show days and dismantling: keep a fabricator on call for repairs, and plan dismantling and truck pickup to the minute, because exits jam on the last evening.

What makes a stall work at a large Gandhinagar show

At a campus this size, visitors walk long aisles and make quick decisions. Three things decide whether they stop:

Height and a clear brand line. A high fascia with one sentence about what you sell is readable from the aisle. A wall of product photos is not.
Something moving. A working machine, a live demo or a screen with a short loop draws more people than static panels. For bigger budgets, AR, VR or hologram displays let you show a product that is too large or too expensive to transport.
A place to sit. Buyers at B2B shows want to talk price and delivery. A small meeting corner with two or three seats turns a visit into an enquiry.

Our earlier piece on standing out at Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad exhibitions covers stall design and lead capture in more depth.

Helipad Exhibition Centre or an Ahmedabad venue?

If you are organising a show yourself rather than exhibiting, the choice usually comes down to scale. HEC suits shows that need tens of thousands of square metres, heavy floor loads or several halls running at once. For a 50 to 150-stall expo, a dealer meet with a product display, or a conference with an exhibition area, venues such as the Gujarat University Convention & Exhibition Centre in Memnagar or a large hotel on SG Highway are easier for Ahmedabad visitors to reach and cheaper to dress.

How AUM Event can help

We design and fabricate stalls, supply the LED, sound and lighting, handle power and permissions with the organiser, and staff the stall if you need it. For companies running their own show, we handle the full event: venue booking, hall layout, stall allocation, registration and hospitality. See our exhibitions and trade shows service, or read about our work as conference organisers in Ahmedabad.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is Helipad Exhibition Centre?

In Sector 17, Gandhinagar, near the Jilla Panchayat office. It is about 18 to 19 km from Ahmedabad airport and about 4 km from Gandhinagar Capital railway station.

How big is Helipad Exhibition Centre?

The campus covers 45 acres, with over 1,00,000 sq m of exhibition space in 13 halls of six different sizes, plus about 25,000 sq m of open area and parking for about 2,500 cars.

Is Helipad Exhibition Centre the same as Mahatma Mandir?

No. Both are in Gandhinagar, but Mahatma Mandir is a separate convention and exhibition centre in Sector 13. It hosted the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in January 2024.

How do I find upcoming events at Helipad Exhibition Centre?

The venue lists upcoming shows on hecgujarat.com. Organisers also publish dates on their own sites, so confirm build-up and show dates with the organiser before you book travel.

Helipad Exhibition Centre Gandhinagar: An Exhibitor's Guide