Adur Pradeep, OP
The Odisha State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society that runs a chain of handloom stores under the brand name ‘Boyanika’ is renowned for its authentic and beautifully designed hand-woven products. In a bid to support the weavers of the state and promote their products, Boyanika has been organising and participating in several handloom expos across the country and abroad.
The latest event being organised by Boyanika is the National Handloom Expo-2018 at the IDCO Exhibition Ground in Bhubaneswar. A total of 22 states, including Odisha, are participating in the event that was inaugurated by Governor SC Jamir January 15. The expo is scheduled to close February 11.
“The number of participants has gone up to 22 states this year. It was 18 last year,” Bishnu Prasad Mishra, managing director, Boyanika, told Orissa POST. “The sales are also better so far when compared with the figures last year. The expo will be there until February 11. We expect an increase in sales in the coming days,” he said.
As part of the event, Boyanika has been conducting several cultural programmes as well to support various art forms in the state. “We are trying to conduct several programmes including folk dance and songs along with the expo. We are also trying to ensure the presence of some Hindi film stars for the event in the coming days. Handloom is a heritage product of Odisha and we are trying to mix up various arts and cultural forms in our events.
“During the event, we will conduct several seminars and workshops for weavers. There will be buyers’ and sellers’ meet including producers and suppliers of yarn.”
The weavers can make it as an occasion to network with customers and various handloom importers. On the other hand, it also provides an option for exporters to expand their market.
Besides, the expo offers customers an opportunity to select some excellent handloom products across the country including Pochampalli sarees from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Lucknowi chikan from Uttar Pradesh and Kotta sarees from Rajasthan.
The expo is sponsored by the Development Commissioner for Handloom, Government of India.
While talking about the upcoming events of Boyanika, Mishra said: “We will have another two special expos scheduled to be held in Rourkela and Berhampur. Following this, another expo will be held at Cuttack.
“We are planning to boost exports by combining our e-commerce sales with various online stores, including Amazon, and through own website. We already have tie-ups with 14 e-commerce companies in the country and there are plans to add more in the future.
Our products are available for people living in Australia, Canada, USA, UK, Japan and South Africa among others. They are also requesting us to participate in events there. We are trying to be part of expos in the US and the UK where the Odiya population is also quite huge. The last international event we attended was in Colombo in 2015 through the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).
Odisha had participated as a partner state in the five-day India Sourcing fair, organised by ITPO in Colombo.
The product range of Boyanika which has 61 years of expertise in the handloom sector, includes Bomkai, Tussar and Sambalpuri Ikat sarees, unstitched salwar suit and kurti for women and readymade kurtas and shirts for men. The society, which has 40,000 handloom weavers under its wing, was formed with an objective to provide support to weavers in the state. (PNN)
