Aishwarya Rai Bachhan at Cannes

Many customers of mine comment that you are the most expensive in your industry. Some said it as a routine, but some were really serious. I took it and started putting some stuff that i did not believe in. My sales dipped.

When you come from the higher level of the pyramid to a slightly lower altitude you see that the area has broadened. You start getting a better footfall at your business place but your sales are least affected. I mean to say that if you lower your quality and you start imagining that it will pull up your sales, its not true.

So coming back to my point, the depression depressed me further until I saw this picture:

  Photo Courtesy: Internet

Its a Chikan Work Saree with matching Resham and / or Zardozi Works as on the blouse with a very trendy long blouse with Resham and / or Zardozi Works (this is actually what i can see from the size of the picture i have here).

This is what designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, for whom i have a great regard.have produced for our former Miss World and daughter in law of the legendary and globally respected Amitabh Bachhan ji. Keeping in mind the quality they make or the quality that they are really capable of making, its a very ok kind of work, specially the Chikan Work.

I have full sympathy with their ok type Chikan Work, i don’t have much knowledge of Resham and Zardozi works, because at this age, Abu ji or any other person of his age who has spent so much of his time in an industry fades a little bit. I have seen that even love, which is a very positive energy, a very sacred energy has faded with the passage of time, so the love with one’s work also fades with the capability of the body as it ages.

Also because when Chikan is done with silk yarns, it comes out really beautiful, but nowadays, specially in Mumbai, folks have begun appreciating cotton (Anchor) thread Chikan Work because silk is really very delicate. Its start coming out the day you start wearing the dress.The saree above seems to be worked upon with cotton yarn.

Cotton yarn is good to work with muslins and other cottons. It gives a very good effect as can be seen below :

Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla are most expensive in their works too. The reputation that they have earned is from their past hard works. The issue of they are making good works now or they are capable of making better works dims out here. They are the kings.

They have again inspired me to go to a more higher level of my pyramid. The thought of getting labelled as the most expensive is now transmitting new energy levels in me. Now i don’t worry of criticism, i do what i have come here to do.

CHIKAN & HUMAN PSHYCOLOGY

I was about to buy a toy from the footpath vendor for Rs.50/-. My handphone rang. My friend Simarjeet was on the line. I told her that I’ll call her later as I was to make a payment for the toy.
She told me that there was another vendor just a block farther who was selling the same toy for Rs.47/-. She confused me for the time, but i thought it was no use walking a block to save just Rs.3/- and the Lucknowi mindset ” yeh bechne waala kya sochega” overtook the thought and I made the purchase.
Same 2nd case came just 3-4 days after that incident. I was selecting a mobile phone for Rs.22,000 something and the salesman who was also my newly made friend whispered that I can get it for Rs.20,000 to Rs.20,500 at the wholesale market barely 6-8kms away. I took the chance. Though what I lost by buying at the wholesale market is another story, we come back to our initial issue.
Comparing the 2 incidents, the price difference was around 6% but the amount involved was much greater and it is human psychology what any human being would have done.

Now we compare the same scenario in our industry. A shirt that we used to sell at Rs.350/- in 2009 is being sold at our stores now for Rs.500/-. Its inflated almost 50% in these 6 years if we take this as an example.
Another piece I take up, a dress material in cotton cloth. This piece was for Rs.2750/- in 2009 and is still at Rs.3,750/- which shows inflation of 36%.
Yet one another piece I take up, a saree in pure georgette. This piece was for Rs.8,500/- in 2009 and is at Rs.10,500/-. It means it has become dearer by 23%.

Point to be understood in all the above 3 cases is that volume sales of the shirt remained the same whereas the volume sales of the dress material and the saree dipped.
The cash inflow from sales of the saree and the dress material remained same or slightly higher though they were selling less but the inflation helped in maintaining the same sales. Here another aspect to be taken as a business that the investment in stocks increased due to this.

So why was the shirt @50%+ selling more and the dress material and saree selling less when its inflation was also less? It was because that the quality had been decreased to make it affordable enough so that it does not remain in the store shelf.
When the quality (of fabric, workmanship, etc.) goes down, it affects the overall buying process of the King (the customer).

The pure georgette fabric rose Rs.400/- to Rs.600/- per metre in these years, the workmanship rose 50% and the King says “mazaa nahi aaya” and mind it – she / he is not wrong.
With the entry of e-tailers, final price what the customer pays, has risen even more. Its deep matter that every buyer MUST understand. The portal charges the seller 10%-20% for giving him the platform, which is also their right as they have to spend heftily on advertisement and all. Their own competitive market is another story which can’t be mixed in this as it will make this longer and the subject will also drift away.
You have to keep aside another amount for models, make-up & photography. So can these sell at that (added up) high price? Answer to it is YES. People are buying. But what ends up in their hands is not the Chikan they had seen at my store. People have started selling fake Chikan on the net and new buyers understand them to be Chikan. Its a slap on our face as this is not what we were taught to sell.

Runa Banerjee ji and Sheeba ji of S.E.W.A. gave life to dying Chikan-kari in 1984. A new kind of generation, the designer generation has taken the task in their hands to keep kindled the flame. Hats off & good luck to them.

Effects of Demonitization & GST on Chikan

My friends ask me that i have not been active on WordPress from a long time while so many happenings have taken place in the meanwhile on which my insights were much expected.

I’ve myself been very busy to understand & work according to the laws of the government. This took a little time to respond. Sorry for that.
I know that my friends have 2 things in particular on which they want to draw my attention to. First demonetization and second GST (Goods and Services Tax) and its impact on Chikan industry.
DEMONETIZATION was a good step to tighten the noose on black money which failed due to many reasons mainly:
1. Financial & Legal Advisors.
2. Bankers
3. Security Staff
4. Commission Agents &
5. Help from friends and dependents

FINANCIAL & LEGAL ADVISORS devised ways to deposit black money in banks, insurance & other investment sectors or pay demonetized currency to suppliers & other outstanding govt. bills as electricity, water tax, house tax, etc.
BANKERS on day 1 worked in military style – NATION FIRST. Clearks worked with full devotion till 3-4 days. Then when bankers understood how they may benefit from demonetization, they started working the anti-national way which included the roles of SECURITY STAFF & COMMISSION AGENTS.
In a bizarre incident SECURITY STAFF refilling ATMs flew away with cash van. Other instances of delivering new currency at “customer’s” doorsteps in “collaboration” of COMMISSION AGENTS have also come to light.

COMMISSION AGENTS charged from 15% in the start to 40% to 60% by the final date (for depositing old notes). Some COMMISSION AGENTS were also caught by tip – off by authorities of railways, roads & by intelligence and police with huge sums of demonetized currency.

FRIENDS & DEPENDENTS deposited some money in their accounts which they paid back in later months. They also stood in queue to change the currency everyday for long hours.
Queuing for long hours to change currency of known or even unknown persons fetched these ‘line-mans’ 300 to 500 rupees a day. These were labourers who used to work as rickshaw pullers, masons & porters.

IMPACT OF DEMONETIZATION ON CHIKAN-KARI

The time was for 2017 season’s production which failed flat on the face as all the money went inside the bank not to come back soon. E-payments of any amount was permissible but the artisans had no bank accounts.
The government of Narendra Modi can’t be blamed for this as it had given ample time to the citizen to open ‘Jan-Dhan’ bank accounts which the artisans (like many other citizen) did not.
However, with the current situation the artisans stopped bringing ready goods as they knew they would be paid off in old currency which also put the brakes on acceptance of material for new production.

Point to be noted here, the artisans who had bank accounts in their villages took payment through cheques but they did not clear even in 30-40 days. Clearance (of cheques) in cities were taking more than 15 days in that time due to the rush in banks which was not giving clerks sufficient time to look in matters other than cash dealings.

So a cheque became useless a useless piece of paper for poor artisan during those days.

An instance that the Mahajans (money lenders) were taking 30%- 40% commission to pay cash right away against those cheques which was not a good bet for an artisan was also reported.

Overall, Chikan production fell to zero in those 2 months. It affected both the manufacturer & the retailer. For the manufacturer it was a GOOD period because no stock was produced, season came good, their old & stagnant stock got sold out. On the other hand it was BAD for the retailer.

Stocks were selling out due to the good season & the retailer was left with nothing else to clear the stagnant stock of the manufacturer. It was really very hard to convince the customer with the dead stock. Salesmen got a hard time & the customer was also not very satisfied.

The above statement can be understood well with sales in yearly Hyderabad exhibition where Hyderabadi people rejected them & did not give even 35% sales as in previous years. Hyderabad & Vijaywada exhibitions are places where almost all the dead stock of this season of a manufacturer gets sold out at very cheap prices (sometimes even cheaper than from Lucknow’s price).

This impression of that period on the customers’ minds is a very negative signal for the industry. Not all may understand but that will become a wound which can take a lot of time & effort to heal.

It must also be noted that Chikan roughly covers just 1% of garment industry in India so a customer has many other options whereas Chikan walahs have none.

IMPACT OF GST ON CHIKAN-KARI

Chikan & other hand-made goods like zardozi & Benarasi Saree were exempted from any kind of tax (even registration) to promote local craftsmen & trade since 1947 when India gained independence.

Traders of fabrics (uncut cloth) & Sarees were also exempt from registration & tax. Under GST these came under 5% tax. Surat in Gujrat state is the main supplier of fabrics & sarees to the entire country. It went on strike for 30-40 days. Benaras was on strike for 15-20 days. Chikan traders downed their shutters for 2-4 days. Zardozi traders took out a march in old city area against GST. But this all fetched no results.

We are talking here on Chikan trade, it got impacted. No fabric (base material) was coming from Surat in these 30-40 days. Morever, Chikan traders – in the hope that GST will not be implemented on them, did not register till 20th July. Till today just 50%-65% have registered themselves.

Due to this fabric from Surat is still not being sent to the traders here as it is mandatory to have a GST number for the goods to move from one state to the other though for the time being.

The timing of GST has affected Chikan production for Dussehra & Deepawali when it gets sold the most in Bengal, Maharashtra & some parts of southern India.

Retail buyers (customers) are getting bored by the same stuff. This scenario is going to stay for some months. Its not very easy to predict if all’s going to end well as the prices are bound to increase by almost 20% in Chikan.

Its not new that 15%-20% price hike has never touched Chikan sales. Chikan has got dearer by at least 100% in the previous 5 years by rate increase in price of cloth or workmanship, so it may be said that customers will absorb such hike for their love for Chikan-kari. But its also our duty to give them back the love they give us by offering new designs of garments & prints (blocks) and better quality & workmanship.

Once again a big THANK YOU, dil se.. to all the Chikan Lovers for standing by us in these difficult times.