CPHI Milan is a big event. We’re talking really big. The biggest in fact. Over 63,000 people attended over 6–8 October 2026. It’s easy to get lost in those numbers, from an event organiser’s perspective, where we often focus on those record breaking figures, and also from an individual’s perspective, where you literally get lost amongst all those people walking around the Fiera Milano.

But even when it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all those big, impressive numbers, all those footsteps hitting the show floor, we always try not to lose sight of what’s important, what we aim to represent; the heart of pharma.

In that spirit, we can capture the heart and the feeling of the show from testimonials from the people who attend.

Ajitesh Godavarthi, CEO & Director of Ekasila Chemicals Limited (Hyderabad, India), is a first-time attendee of the event, and captures all the trepidation, excitement, and bravery that such a show brings out in someone.

“My first CPHI. My first time in Italy. I came alone, with a badge around my neck, a backpack full of cards, and no real idea what was waiting inside.”

As a CEO and Director Godavarthi has undeniable experience in the industry, but CPHI offers a truly unique experience for all players in the market, and you really haven’t seen anything like it anywhere else.

“I know the names. I know the plants, the purchase departments, the delivery schedules. I know what one delayed tanker does to somebody's production plan. But I know all of it from one side of the table. Phone calls. Emails. Purchase orders. I had never seen the whole industry in one place.”

And that is undeniably a sight to behold. Wherever we are hosting CPHI Worldwide it is a spectacle, simply because it has to be to hold that much infrastructure and that many people. Since CPHI began in 1990 it has grown beyond recognition, and with that there are actually not that many exhibition centres and cities that can handle the capacity. Moving around Europe, the Messe Frankfurt and The Fiera Milano are impressive complexes in their own right.

“It was held at Fiera Milano in Rho, just outside the city. And the building stopped me before the event did. It was designed by the Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas and built in just 27 months, between 2003 and 2005, on old industrial land. Down the middle runs a glass and steel canopy more than a kilometre long. In places it dips to the ground. In others it rises into huge curves above your head. You walk under it from hall to hall. Look up, and you see people on the walkways above, and the sky behind them.”

A few deep breaths and then you have to enter the building, preparing yourself for what’s inside.

“I walked into the first hall, and two things hit me at the same time. The first was the scale. Tonnes of stalls. Hall after hall. Tens of thousands of people from every corner of the world, every language at once. Suits, lanyards, handshakes, small glass meeting rooms with laptops open. I have been to exhibitions in Hyderabad. This was not that. The second was possibility. If every company that matters is within walking distance of me, what can happen from here? Who could I meet? What could this become?”

As an Editor for CPHI that has attended my fair share of CPHI shows, this is the first thing that always gets me, inside, the size of the exhibition halls are truly magnificent. As the producers of the show we get the opportunity to walk the show floor before any of the visitors arrive. The great big echoing halls are brimming with possibility, the space just waiting to be filled, the potential is almost palpable.

And then the people arrive, they come flooding in, it is a torrent. And suddenly these huge venues are filled, there is a hum of activity, the buzz of all the discussions – the introductions, the catching up, the walking from hall to hall, panellists sharing their knowledge in the conference theatres – you can feel it in your bones. It is exhilarating.

One thing that we hear time and time again from these shows is how much people like to connect. CPHI is a personal experience, it taps into human nature, the human need to connect with their community, finally being able to bridge distance and technology.

“Everyone was nice, and helpful. Nobody treated it like a formal meeting with a supplier. They asked about our business. They listened. They talked to me like a person, not a vendor.”

Godavarthi describes this fundamentally human experience when he bumps into an old boss, the CEO of Dr Reddy’s Laboratory:

“A few years ago I was one of many people working under him. Now I was standing in front of him in Milan, as the CEO of a supplier. I will not forget that handshake for a long time. Standing in that hall, seeing the scale of the industry and the possibilities in it at the same time, I felt something I had not felt in a while.”

Another thing that Godavarthi found notable from the event was the amount of people that had travelled so far from home to be there. At CPHI the aim is that it is really a global event, and we have representatives from over 160 countries in attendance. Godavarthi found an unexpected slice of home during his visit, and honestly when you’ve travelled so far and come upon something so bewildering as CPHI, sometimes you really need that little bit of familiarity:

“I travelled nearly seven thousand kilometres. And when I spread the cards out on the table that evening, a good number of them had Hyderabad and Secunderabad addresses… We had to come to Italy to finally sit down and talk. At first I found that funny. Then I found it a little beautiful. Back home, everyone is busy with their plant, their schedules, their problems for the day. Nobody has time to just talk to a neighbour. Put us all in a hall in Milan, far from routine, and suddenly there is time. A familiar accent across an aisle starts to feel like home.”

Before I get too caught up in how it feels to attend the show, it is of course about more than that, this show is the biggest business meeting you will ever attend (until the next year’s CPHI no doubt…). The halls are constantly expanding to encompass new technology and industry trends. This year, we featured four new zones: AI and Technology, Cold Chain & Logistics, Contamination Control and Labelling. These compliment our longstanding zones on Manufacturing, Machinery, Packaging Device and Innovation and others. Suppliers and vendors can meet CDMOs and CMOs, distributors and anyone else along the supply chain get the chance to meet face to face, everyone looking for the deals that are going to catapult their business into the future of pharma.

“A five minute chat at a stall. A coffee at a small round table. A handshake in an aisle. Each one, a door now slightly open. What happens next depends on me. A follow up email. A visit when I am back. A sample. A quote. Some will lead nowhere, and that is fine. One or two might change our business. You never know which card it will be. That is the whole point of being there.”

CPHI opens up a whole world of opportunities, all you have to do is attend.

“Near the exit there was a big green board. At the top: "What will be your next stop?" Below it, every upcoming CPHI and partner event in the world. Singapore. Delhi. Riyadh. Paris. Tokyo. Miami. Barcelona. Shanghai. Seoul. Frankfurt. Someone next to me was pointing at it, already planning.”

And that is the thing about CPHI that you can’t imagine unless you attend, that hum, that buzz that I talked about earlier, once it gets you it will always draw you back, and don’t just take it from me, Godavarthi felt it, everyone feels it.

“That is what a first trip does. It does not finish something. It starts something.

More about Ajitesh Godavarthi

Ajitesh Godavarthi is the CEO & Director of Ekasila Chemicals Limited, Hyderabad, which has dealt in basic chemicals for over four decades. Its products, Ammonium Hydroxide and Anhydrous Liquid Ammonia, are used by Bulk Drug Manufacturers, Pharmaceutical and API Companies across the industry. He also writes under the name Echos Of My Mind, sharing travel stories, life reflections and long reads on history and culture.

https://echosofmymind.com