Eid celebration in Bangladesh, shopping in India

Today is 14^th Ramadan. Eid ul Fitr, the biggest festival of Muslims will be celebrated in the country after 16 days. Keeping it ahead clothes of different colors and designs are displayed in the showrooms of markets throughout the country including Dhaka. The sellers are busy with breath taking moments in the city’s reputed markets. But most of the items they are selling are Indian goods. Showrooms are full with Indian commodities. The demand of Indian goods is greater than the local products at the moment. So the shop owners decorated their showrooms with huge collection of Indian sharees, three pieces, lehengas and gowns for the women.

Sellers are saying, people celebrate Eid in Bangladesh but they make their shopping in India. They are passing their idle time like the previous year. Gathering of shoppers has decreased in the local shopping centers as India provides free visas during Eid. But they are hoping for more buyers gathering in the next few days.

While visiting different shops in capital’s Basundhara City shopping mall on Thursday it was seen lesser buyers presence. There were two or three customers in some shops and some were without buyers.

Anisul Haque, a seller of Better Choice showroom of Basundhara mall told Rtv online that this year the presence of customers is lesser than the other years during Eid shopping period. Indian business firms are taking away customers through different offers. People are getting India dependent for their shopping day by day. About one lakh people are now in India centering the Eid. About two lakh people will make their shopping in the Eid season. If a person makes shopping worth 10 to 20 thousand taka each than about 200 hundred crore taka will go India from the country.

Sulaiman Hossain, proprietor of Arshi Collection from Basundhara city also mentioned the reason of lesser sale for providing easy visa to India for Eid shopping.

He told Rtv online, Eid shopping usually begins after Shab e Barat but nothing was sold in this year. We are not charging higher rate and making a minimum profit. As getting the Indian visa is easier at the moment so people are India bound at the moment. Buyers’ presence began to decrease from the last couple of years and this year the situation is the worst.

Proprietor of Style Girls of Basundhara city, Khorshed Alam said, people are Kolkata oriented for their Eid shopping as the Indian visa is within reach. Selling in the showroom has decreased by 30 percent. For easy journey and eye catching designs people are going to Kolkata. This has influenced our selling.

He said, though the prices of clothes are less in Kolkata but if we make the calculation of expenditure including staying cost, travel cost and others than it certainly stays above than Bangladesh. Besides there is no scope for changing the items instantly.

Another salesman of Darul Jannat told Rtv online, we sale our products by paying tax to the government. But at the moment the buyers can get their items without paying tax while coming from India.

Some sellers are mentioning different fairs as a reason for sales falling. They expressed anger saying that some people are arranging fair of Indian clothes or selling through online. They do not have licenses or paying any money to the government. People are getting their goods sitting at homes by avoiding hardship of going shopping centers.

AH