Bhopal: Made in India rakhis flood market, Chinese ones disappear

Bhopal: Made in India rakhis flood market, Chinese ones disappear

Staff ReporterUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 04:39 AM IST
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Bhopal: Call it patriotism, if you will, or going by the popular mood, but it is a fact that Chinese rakhis have virtually disappeared from the market this year.

Of course, one has to take the word of the sellers in the makeshift rakhi shops that have mushroomed all over the city for it, as visually there is little difference between Chinese and made in India rakhis. “The Chinese ones are more attractive and the size and shape of the sequins are also different”, explains Jeetu, barely into his teens, as he hawks his rakhis in New Market.

Amidst New Delhi-Beijing stand-off in Doklam area and aggressive posturing of the Red Dragon, a virulent campaign has been launched on the social media, calling for a boycott of Chinese products. And that seems to have affected the rakhi market too. “We had a meeting and it was decided not to sell Chinese rakhis. China is threatening us by using our own money. Why should we make them earn profit by selling their products?” said another rakhi seller Akash Mirchandani adding that “We have only Indian rakhis this year. Customers are also demanding made in India rakhis not Chinese ones. It is true we are in loss but at the same time we too think hamara paisa hamare desh mein hi utilise hoga….”

The USP of Chinese rakhis is their low price, and ever since they disappeared from the market, the rates of made in India rakhis have spiralled this year. Besides the sellers are also blaming GST and of course, ‘notebandi’.

“Our sales are down 50 to 60 per cent due to GST as well as boycott of Chinese rakhis. After the implementation of GST, We are paying 12 per cent tax. So we too have hiked the price of rakhi and are now selling it for Rs 20, the price of which was Rs 10 earlier. We earned huge profit by selling Chinese’s Rakhis due to its cheap pricing. We bargained with customers easily,” said Jitendra.

“We have around 50 to 60 varieties of rakhis of different states including Varanasi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Jaipur. It range starts from Rs 10 to Rs 800. A rakhi named ‘bahubali is popular among customers. Its price is Rs 400 each. We also have gold plated rakhi in bracelet form the price of which is Rs 800,” says Rajesh Sen who has been selling rakhis in New Market. He also added that “Market is a bit down than last year. I think it may be due to GST as well as boycott of Chinese rakhis both.”

Ranjana Jha, a student said, “The prices of rakhis have increased than last year. Even after paying so much, we are not getting the variety and quality of rakhis which we used to get earlier.”

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