While a lot of participants rue that the GST hit their profits this year, discounted prices have added to the joy of shoppers at the 37th IITF
With two days to go before the India International Trade Fair (IITF) concludes on Tuesday, visitors are making hay as traders are selling their merchandise at reduced prices. While a lot of participants rue that the GST hit their profits this year, discounted prices have added to the joy of shoppers at the 37th IITF.
From Korean blankets, marble figurines, Turkish carpets to goods made from camel leather, the IITF has products to offer for every budget. While Chhattisgarh is attracting buyers with its native Dhokra art, which uses brass as the main element to make sculptures; the artifacts in the form of animals, religious figures and lamps showcasing a beautiful marriage between tribal simplicity and finesse, are flying off the shelves. The artifacts have a nominal starting price of Rs 250.
From brass door handles, decorative items for walls and home decor, the stall at Saras market is drawing buyers in hordes. The visitors are also buying mugs, slippers and lamps made from bamboo, being sold for anything between Rs 100 to Rs 500, depending on the intricacy of work done on the merchandise. Talking to DNA, Saryu Bansal, a visitor said,"Though on the last days, most of the top quality products are already off the shelves, I have been lucky to have found some great deals on home decor and clothes this year. One can get a good deal if one has the right bargaining skills."
Products made from camel leather, bearing art stamp and craft of Madhya Pradesh are also popular among the shoppers here. These are priced between Rs 50 to Rs 5000 and range from beautifully crafted figures of animal, settees in shape of tortoise etc costing Rs 1,200, small animals at Rs 150 to other decorative items at Rs 250. The shoppers are also enchanted with the wall clocks, photo frames, wall hangings, jewellery boxes, pen stands etc, made from traditional cone ceramic art.
Businessmen, however, are unhappy with their sales this year at the IITF, citing the GST as the main reason. Reeling under losses for the second year in a row, they rue that it was demonetisation which impacted their business last year.
Radhika Choudhary, an artist from Indore, who was selling cone art decor products at the IITF, claimed that her sale was reduced to half this year because people were not willing to pay the tax. The lesser number of visitors this year since India Trade Promotion Organisation put a cap of 60,000 on them, also took the sheen away from the IITF. The number of participants also came down to half, at around 3,000 this year as opposed to over 6,000 stalls in previous years.
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