Onam charm brings cheers to Erode market

COIMBATORE: The US tariff on Indian goods may have impacted textile exports from the textile hub of Tirupur, but the domestic market in Tamil Nadu has rebounded, with the Onam festival spurring demand for garments.

“The sale of garments like white veshti (dhoti or mundu), lungi and inner garments for the Onam festival has been reasonably better this year. Unlike the export textiles, which corporate firms manufacture, these garments are churned out by small-scale manufacturers in Tirupur,” said K Selvaraj, vice-president of Erode Gani Market Daily Textile Traders Association.

Last year too, after an initial lull due to the Wayanad landslide, the business picked up as orders poured in from the neighbouring state for garments to be given to affected families. They weren’t actually Onam business, but coincided with the season, say traders.

Over the last month, traders from Kerala have been flocking to the EKM Abdul Gani Textile Market, popularly known as Gani Market in Erode, to purchase garments in bulk ahead of the festival.

As usual, the Onam wholesale business picked up a month in advance, and currently, retail customers continue to throng the market.

The 240-odd shops in Gani Market usually do business for an average of Rs 10 crore during the Onam season, while the volume of sales in garment shops across the district may cross over 100 crore.

The shopkeepers demanded that the Erode Corporation resume the conduct of weekly ‘sandhai’ in the market premises.

“After the commercial complex was thrown open a year ago, with the scrapping of weekly 'sandhai', the market has gradually lost its sheen. Several small-scale manufacturers from Chennimalai, Karur, Sivagiri, Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam, who turn up to sell their wares at the weekly ‘sandhai’ in Gani market, have now lost their source of livelihood. As many as 720 individuals couldn’t set up shops,” Selvaraj added.

Traders claimed that earlier buyers from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Surat in Gujarat and other states used to visit the weekly market on every Monday.

“Nowadays, only retail sales happen as wholesale buyers hardly come as they tend to visit private markets at the Central Market and Ashokapuram market in the district,” said R Murugan, another trader in the Gani Market.