Customer apathy hits Andhra’s handwoven sari market

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Hyderabad, Aug 24: The traditional ikat tie and dye handwoven silk saris from the looms of Bhoodhan Pochampally village in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh may soon lose its fame. A clear shift in the customer preference over the years, has failed to uplift the dwindling market of the world famous brand, which got the geographical indication (GI) registration recently.

The overall market of the brand has come down to Rs 80-85 crore, which is only about 40-42.5% of what it was 7-8 years ago. According to representatives from the weavers community, eight years ago, the domestic market for Pochampally silk saris used to be Rs 200 crore. "Over the years, the market for the saris has been coming down gradually. And in the last two years, we have witnessed a clear change in the customers' choice. They opt for synthetic and embroidery saris over these traditional ikat tie and dye saris, except on certain special occasions. The impact of this, is so much so that, we have unsold stock worth Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore in the looms," they said.

Several representations were made to the the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd (APCO) to purchase the stock for the benefit of the weavers. But they are not willing to purchase stock from weavers who are not members of the cooperative society. "This stand of APCO will not help the weaving community, as nearly 90% of the weavers are not part of the cooperative society and only 10% are members. We also made representations to the state government but nothing has happened so far," they said.