President Patil inaugurates World Philatelic Exhibition 'INDIPEX 2011'

New Delhi, Feb 12(ANI): President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Saturday inaugurated the World Philatelic Exhibition 'INDIPEX 2011' in the national capital.

India Post has organized the weeklong exhibition in collaboration with the Philatelic Congress of India under the auspices of the Federation Internationale de Philatelie and Federation of Inter-Asian Philately.

The exhibition aims to promote philately and provide a forum for interaction between philatelic stakeholder's viz. collectors, dealers, stamp designers and printers and postal administrations.

The President also issued a postage stamp on 'Khadi' (hand woven cloth) that acted as a spark against British colonial rule.

"This is the fist time in the history of our stamp collection that we have launched a stamp on Khadi following the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi," Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said.

A premium limited edition in a miniature sheet format in a special collector's pack will be available, priced at Rs.250, during the exhibition.

The stamps can also be booked online by visiting the INDIPEX 2011 website.

The exhibition will showcase some of the best collection of stamps, stationary and philatelic literature from all over the world in different categories.

There are 595 collectors from 70 countries who will be participating in the exhibition apart from 28 philatelic dealers and 31 postal administrations.

The philatelic exhibition would continue till February 18. (ANI)