By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Delhi, Oct. 29, GNA – Manufacturers, designers and local industries players in Delhi, Indian, say the country’s local products and markets can help turn the economic fortunes of countries in the global south.
At a market exhibition (Delhi Haat), the traders said their local products and markets were ‘safe havens’ for Ghanaian traders and investors who would want to serve their market segments with quality and affordable goods.
Delhi Haat, a typical traditional aura of rural market in India, held for about three weeks every year, is one of the biggest and famous markets where one could buy contemporary products and handicrafts.
Mr Siphartha Bhattacharya, Designer and Manufacturer of Fabrics, New Delhi, together with his sales personnel in a makeshift structure said their local products, though of high quality, had been priced down to reach out to developing countries like Ghana.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), he said the trade of local products between Ghana and India would not only help create jobs, reduce high cost of living in Ghana but help tackle the circular economy that had created textile waste management challenge for several African countries, including Ghana.
He said most of the manufacturers were scattered across towns and villages in India with their indigenous techniques and anyone who invested would get incentives and products that could not be found anywhere in the world.
“We have garments for ladies, men and children, food items, furniture, cosmetics, bags, ceramics, brass, shoes and jewelries amongst others. If you want 500 pieces, 50 pieces, 10 million pieces you will get,” Mr Bhattacharya said.
“Our laws are economically friendly and help grow your business. Besides, the Indian Government has given us reliable and affordable electricity and sustainable infrastructure and with our vibrant local production ecosystem, we can give our Ghanaian counterparts quality products,” he said.
The handcraft market which is celebrated through exhibition is to mark the beginning of the usage of the wheel machine by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, as part of efforts to create economic venture for the people.
Kashmir, a region of the northwestern India, is home to some varieties of quality fabrics like cotton and blended ones like cotton and silk, cotton and pashmina and silk and pashmina.
Mr Bilal Khan, a trader of pashmina fabrics, said his clothes were designed to give some sort of warmth to the body during cold weather and could be good for Ghana since Africa is experiencing excessive cold and heat.
“The sales of these fabrics and other products is a profitable business and we could give discounts and other incentives to our Ghanaian customers for a long mutual benefit,” he said.
Miss Nandini Kalita, Assistant Professor, Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology, who had been patronising products from Dalli Hatt said Delhi Haat was a place everybody could get goods at affordable prices, adding that the Indian Government should give more opportunities to local manufacturers to increase production.
GNA