Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Expensive Indian saris and other apparels have virtually monopolized the city’s top retail outlets just before the Eid ul-Fitr festival as the nation’s busiest shopping season nears the end.
Big names among the city’s popular destinations for Eid shopping including Texmart, Shoppers World, Zaara or Vasavi, which have experienced a boom in sales over the last weeks, are virtually flooded by Indian made panjabis and saris — the two most coveted items on Eid occasions.
While differing little from their local products in quality and design, this Indian apparel items, whose sales usually increase manifold during the Eid holidays each year, are sold at high prices.
As the flooding of Indian garments in the local market ahead of the Eid season is not a new phenomenon in the country, the scenario at the retail outlets in Gulshan and Uttara areas is one of an absolute monopoly of Indian apparels.
“All the saris and panjabis showcased in our store are exclusively Indian and our sales have increased by almost 150 percent since the Eid shopping spree started,” a sales official of Zaara was quoted by the Financial Express (FE), a local newspaper, as saying.
“Most of our buyers come from upper and upper middle class echelons, but the upper middle class people are larger in number as this segment of the society is usually more enthusiastic about the Eid shopping,” he added.
The price range of an Indian made kurta or panjabi- traditionally one of the most sought after items on Eid occasions, for example, usually varies from BDT 7,000.00 to BDT 30,000.00 in such outlets. Some are costly as high as BDT 60,000.
The price range of Indian sari in such places is no less than BDT 20000, while the range of the highest price has no limit, according to the newspaper reports.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-19September09-1:07 pm (BST)
