Aug 15 approaching, traders say tricolour sales lower than ever

nNEWDELHI: Abdul Gaffar Ansari’s family has been making national flags since 1954. Every year, the orders – which came from as far as Assam, Orissa, and Bihar-peaked two months before Independence Day, and he ramped up production, making about 5,000 cotton flags every day. But this year has been unlike any other.

It is only three weeks to go for Independence Day, and he is making only 200 flags as most of his customers are not turning up. “Normally we would make about 300,000 national flags for Independence Day, but I am afraid we may not make 20,000 this year. I have not seen an Independence Day like this before,” says Ansari, 70, who runs Bharat Handloom Cloth House in Sadar Bazar, one of the oldest manufacturers of flags in Delhi.

Ansari is not the only one. With schools, colleges closed, and most government and private organisations deciding to keep their Independence Day celebrations low-key, the demand for the national flag, manufacturers and traders say, have dropped. “Seventy-five per cent of my orders for the national flag came from schools, colleges and other educational institutes, and this year, there are hardly any orders from them. Business is down by 90%. We have a few orders from government offices,” says Anil Gupta, a major manufacturer and trader of flags in Sadar Bazar in Delhi, which is a major flag manufacturing hub, attracting traders from all over the country.

“Last year we made 2,500,000 paper flags for schools, this year we have made only 400,000. Looks like even that is going to be unsold,” says Gupta.

Mohammed Chaman, who runs Aaroma Enterprises, has a similar story. Apart from flags of different sizes, the shelves in his shop are stacked with tricolourthemed merchandise: badges, scarves, caps, T-shirts. “Our sales on August 15 were always four times more than that on Republic Day. But this time, we hope we will be able to clear our Independence Day stock on Republic Day, which will be a first for us,” says Chaman.

Among the best-selling flags for Independence Day celebrations, the traders say, were small paper flags ( 4x6 and 6x 9 inches), mostly supplied to schools, and medium-size cloth flags (3x5ft). “Small paper flags cost just 25 paise and the bigger ones (40-60 ft) cost about ₹15,000 a piece wholesale. Big flags were mostly bought by corporates in Gurugram, who celebrated Independence Day in their campuses. This year they have not come. We expected a dip in demand, but never thought it could get so bad,” says Hardik Arora of Muskan Enterprises, a wholesale dealer of flags for the past 22 years in Sadar Bazar.

“The demand has only been rising since citizens were allowed to hoist the national flag over their homes in 2002. Such has been the demand that two months before Independence Day, about 150 temporary shops selling the tricolour came up in Sadar Bazar. Now there are hardly 25,” he says.

Most big manufacturers outsource manufacturing to contractors in east Delhi areas such as Shiv Vihar, Nand Nagri, Sonia Vihar, Seelampur, where flagmaking is a cottage industry, providing seasonal employment to about 40,000, especially women.

“Work would start in May and a woman with a single sewing machine at home would earn about ₹500 day, making about ₹45,000 during the season. This year I have no work to offer them,” says Tohid Ali, a contract manufacturer of flags for over two decades.