Portable and Modular Displays You Can Set Up Yourself
Roll-ups, fabric backdrops, pop-ups and folding counters. Up in twenty minutes, no crew, home in the boot of a car — and supplied with the print already done.
Not every appearance justifies a built stand
A regional dealer meet, a two-day conference in a hotel ballroom, a partner’s pavilion where you have been given three metres of wall — these need something you can carry, put up in twenty minutes without a crew, and take home in the boot of a car. That is what portable display hardware is for, and it is a genuinely different product from the stands on the rest of this site.
We supply portable kits as hardware. You buy them, you own them, you set them up. There is no installation crew and no floor plan, which is exactly why they cost a fraction of a built stand and why they are quoted as a purchase rather than against our build bands.
Where portable does not make sense is an open-space plot of 9 m² or more that you intend to hold for the full run. Two roll-ups behind a table reads as an exhibitor who did not really commit, and on a floor where your competitors have built, that comparison is made in about two seconds.
What it costs, hardware and builds
Portable kits are a hardware purchase, not a stand build, so they sit outside the build bands entirely. You buy the frame, you own it, and the only recurring cost is the print when the message changes. Prices are for supply with print, ex-Mumbai, and exclude GST and courier.
Replacement graphics against a frame we already have on file are the cheapest refresh available anywhere in this range — if your hardware is sound and only the message has changed, do not buy new hardware. Keep the frame model number somewhere findable; it saves a round of photographs and measurement every time.
Once an appearance needs a built stand, the spine below applies, and the step up from portable is usually a reusable modular system rather than a custom build. Most of our long-term clients arrived through exactly that sequence — roll-ups, then a backdrop and counter, then an Essential modular build. There is nothing wrong with starting at the bottom of it.
Portable hardware, print included
- Roll-up
- Economy ₹4,500–₹6,000 · premium wide base ₹7,000–₹9,000
- Fabric
- Tension backdrop, 2.4–3 m × 2.3 m — ₹18,000–₹40,000
- Pop-up
- With fabric skin, 3 m or 4.5 m — ₹35,000–₹65,000
- Counter
- Portable briefcase counter, folds flat — ₹12,000–₹22,000
- Reprint
- Replacement print only, per panel — ₹1,800–₹6,500
- Excludes
- GST and courier; prices are ex-Mumbai
Built stands are priced separately on our standard spine, all-inclusive except organiser floor rental:
Essential
- Design, build and graphics
- Lighting and furniture
- Transport from Mumbai
- Installation and dismantle
Regular
- Bespoke structure and joinery
- Meeting area and storage
- Lighting design
- Full site crew
Premium
- Double-decker or feature build
- AV integration
- Hospitality and meeting rooms
- Dedicated project manager
Stand figures are all-inclusive of design, fabrication, graphics, lighting, furniture, transport, installation and dismantling. They exclude the organiser's floor rental, power connection charges and venue-levied service fees, which the organiser bills to you directly. GST applies at prevailing rates.
When portable stops being enough
Once you are holding open-space plots or need enclosed meeting space, a built stand is the honest answer. These are ours.
Which format, and why
The decision is usually made on three things: how much wall you need to fill, how far it has to travel, and who is putting it up.
If the space behind you is under two metres and you are travelling alone, roll-ups are the answer, and two flanking a table is a perfectly respectable presence. If you have three metres and a colleague, a fabric backdrop gives a single continuous graphic that photographs far better than a row of separate banners — and photographs matter, because a conference presence generates more images than sales conversations.
One combination we recommend more than any other is a fabric backdrop, one branded counter and two portable spotlights. It fills a stand-sized footprint, travels as checked baggage, sets up in under twenty minutes, and costs less than a fifth of the Essential build tier.
Weight, set-up and how it travels
- Roll-up
- About 4 kg in a padded bag · under a minute · hand baggage in all but name
- Fabric
- Folds into a bag · fifteen minutes with two people · checked baggage
- Pop-up
- 20–30 kg hard case · twenty to thirty minutes first time · courier or excess
- Counter
- Folds flat · minutes · travels with the backdrop
- Lighting
- Two clamp-on LEDs at 10–15 W · needs a socket and your own extension lead
- Repeat
- A reprint against a frame we already have on file is a two-day job
What the portable range covers
Four formats, chosen on how much wall you need to fill and who is putting it up.
Roll-up banner stands
The workhorse. A retractable print in an aluminium cassette, 800 or 850 mm wide by 2 m tall, up in under a minute, packing into a padded bag around 4 kg. Economy cassettes are fine for a handful of uses; a wide-base premium cassette with a straight bar stands properly on carpet and survives years of handling. Buy the better cassette — the print costs the same either way.
Tension fabric backdrops
A tubular aluminium frame with a printed stretch fabric skin pulled over it, typically 3 m × 2.3 m. The fabric is machine-washable, folds into a bag and does not crease the way vinyl does, which makes it the best travelling option for anything that has to look presentable after a flight. Around fifteen minutes for two people.
Pop-up systems
A concertina frame that expands to a curved or straight 3 m or 4.5 m wall, with magnetic panels or a single fabric skin. Heavier at 20–30 kg in its case, but it gives a fuller wall with more presence, the frame is self-locating so it is harder to assemble wrongly under pressure, and the case doubles as a counter with a printed wrap.
Counters, lighting and accessories
Briefcase counters that fold flat, fabric-wrapped podiums, literature racks, tablet stands and clamp-on spotlights. Spotlights matter more than people expect — hotel ballroom lighting is dim and warm, and an unlit backdrop photographs badly.
Lighting, and artwork that survives the format
Hotel banquet lighting is warm, dim and aimed at tables, not at your backdrop. An unlit graphic in that room loses most of its contrast and all of its colour accuracy, which is why so many event photographs show a washed-out grey wall behind a well-lit speaker. Two clamp-on LED spotlights on the top rail fix it for a few thousand rupees. They need a power point within reach and an extension lead you have brought yourself, because the one thing no venue reliably provides is a socket where you want it — so we include the lead in the kit.
Artwork fails for equally predictable reasons. Text below eye level gets blocked by a table. Logos at the bottom of a roll-up sit behind a chair. Fabric has a slight give, so a hard geometric border reads as off-square once tensioned. And a busy layout that works on screen turns to noise at two metres in poor light.
The rules we give clients are simple: one message in the top third, nothing important below 900 mm, generous margins, and enough contrast to survive warm ballroom lighting. We supply templates at the correct bleed for every frame we sell, and we check supplied artwork before printing rather than after.
Modular systems in use
The reusable systems that sit one step above portable hardware. Tap any card to play.
Portable displays — common questions
What is the difference between portable and modular exhibition displays?
Portable hardware is hand-carried and self-assembled — roll-ups, fabric backdrops, pop-ups and folding counters, set up in minutes without a crew. A modular stand is a professional aluminium system build of 9 m² or more, installed by our team and reconfigured between shows. Portable is a hardware purchase; modular is a built stand.
How much does a portable exhibition display cost?
Roll-up banners run ₹4,500–₹9,000 depending on cassette quality, tension fabric backdrops ₹18,000–₹40,000, pop-up systems ₹35,000–₹65,000 and portable counters ₹12,000–₹22,000, all including print and excluding GST and courier. Built stands are priced separately, starting at ₹1.8 lakh for the 9–18 m² Essential tier.
How long does a portable display take to set up?
A roll-up takes under a minute. A tension fabric backdrop takes about fifteen minutes with two people. A pop-up takes twenty to thirty minutes the first time and roughly half that once someone has done it once. Every kit ships with a printed set-up card, because whoever assembles it at the venue is rarely whoever ordered it.
Can I fly with a portable display?
A roll-up at around 4 kg travels as hand baggage in practice. A fabric backdrop in its bag goes as checked baggage on a domestic flight. A pop-up in a hard case at 25–30 kg is excess baggage or a courier consignment — at that weight you should plan freight rather than assume you can carry it.
Can I reprint the graphic without buying a new frame?
Yes, and it is the cheapest refresh in the range — replacement prints run ₹1,800–₹6,500 per panel depending on size and format. If the hardware is sound and only the message has changed, reprint rather than replace. Keep your frame model number somewhere findable; it saves a round of photographs every time.
Is a portable display enough for a trade show stand?
For a table-top presence at a conference or a shell-scheme plot at short notice, yes. For an open-space plot of 9 m² or more held for a full show run, no — two roll-ups behind a table reads as a half-committed exhibitor next to neighbours who have built. That is where the Essential build tier from ₹1.8 lakh belongs.
What artwork format do you need?
We supply templates at the correct bleed for every frame we sell. Send print-ready PDF or packaged AI at 100–150 dpi at final size with fonts outlined. Keep the key message in the top third, nothing important below 900 mm where a table blocks it, and allow generous margins — tensioned fabric has slight give and hard geometric borders read as off-square.
Do you deliver portable displays outside Mumbai?
Yes, by courier across India. Prices quoted are ex-Mumbai and exclude courier and GST. Lead time is typically three to five working days for standard formats once artwork is approved, and seven to ten for custom sizes or a fabric colour match. We confirm the lead time against your event date before accepting the order rather than after.
Often booked together
Modular Exhibition Stands
One aluminium system reconfigured to a different plot at every show, for exhibitors who show four, five or six times a year.
Modular standsCustom Exhibition Stands
Built once, for one plot, at one show, to do one job. Designed and fabricated in our Mumbai workshop and installed across India.
Custom standsBranding & Graphic Design
Large-format graphics designed for the distance they are actually read from, printed and proofed alongside the stand they go on.
Graphic designNeed something you can carry to the event?
Tell us the space you have and the date you need it by. We will recommend a format, confirm the lead time against your date and quote it with print included.
