ARTFED sets target to sell 3 lakh gamosas

Bid to make gamosa beat its evil twin in the market

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 9: In order to help Assamese gamosa win the price war it has been pitted against its evil twin – power loom gamosas produced elsewhere in the country – ARTFED has set a target of selling three lakh pieces of gamosa during this Rongali Bihu.    

Handloom gamosa of Assam, which is considered a symbol of the State’s pride, has long been fighting a losing battle on the price line against its evil twin in the State market. Since it cannot compete with power loom gamosas on the price line, it has to depend much on government’s measures that are meant for protecting the interest and art of the State weavers. However, on that front too, Assamese gamosa has not been getting much succour. The ground reality is that power loom gamosas have glutted the local market in Assam.

In order not to give power loom gamosas any upper hand in the market in Assam, the State Handloom and Textiles Department is planning to glut the domestic market with gamosas as it has huge stock with it. This effort is aimed at protecting the interests of the State weavers and to keep the pride of Assam intact. 

Meanwhile, ARTFED has as many as three lakh pieces of gamosas worth around Rs 5 crore up for sale in this Rongali Bihu through its outlets spread in the State. ARTFED has three production centres of its own – one each at Bamunimaidam, Boragaon and lbari. This apart, ARTFED gets indigenous-woven gamosas from smaller cooperative societies under it, self-help groups and individual weavers of the State. The sale of yarn from the yarn bank with 25 per cent reduction has also helped weavers produce more gamosas this year than ever before. ARTFED has a network of 48 outlets, including ten in Guwahati, in Assam and one each at Delhi and Kolkata. This apart, three more sales countres have been opened in Guwahati this year – one each at Ambari, Dispur and Noonmati. ARTFED has also made the arrangement of a mobile van so as to sell gamosas in the State. 

It is worth mentioning here that ARTFED failed to achieve the target of selling two lakh gamosas last year. It ended the year by selling 1.80 lakh gamosas. It, however, is hopeful of meeting the target this year.

The dismal situation is that the production from the three own production centres of ARTFED is very low – the three together producing around 40,000 pieces gamosas yearly. It, however, gets a huge quantity of gamosas from other cooperative societies, SHGs and individual weavers.