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Flying colours for the flag industry

Sidhartha & Anil Sasi in New Delhi

The Indian flag is flying high. If the booming sales of the tricolour are any indication, Indians have become more patriotic.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission chairman Mahesh Sharma told Business Standard flag sales had touched Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) in the first four months of the current financial year, compared to Rs 60-65 lakh (Rs 6-6.5 million) in the whole of 2001-02. The size of the flag industry is larger because the unorganised sector sells much more than KVIC.

Encouraged by the surge in sales, KVIC, the sole agency authorised to manufacture and sell BIS-certified flags, has decided to add five more production centres. KVIC, which can manufacture only 75,000 flags a year, expects to double its capacity.

Sales have increased despite the fact that the share of government agencies in the overall figure has dipped from 75 per cent to 60 per cent. With sales picking up further due to Independence Day, KVIC has released around 50,000 flags for sale at its outlets.

In Delhi, the largest market, flag sales between April and August 12 touched Rs 23 lakh (Rs 2.3 million) as against Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) in 2001-02. Sharma said he had asked the KVIC team to target sales of Rs 1 crore (rs 10 million) in Delhi alone for the current financial year.

The impressive figures, Sharma said, had been achieved despite KVIC's decision to turn down a proposal from the Prime Minister's Office to offer 50 per cent discount on the flags, the smallest of which is priced at Rs 50, minus the staff.

KVIC is in the process of obtaining certification for each of the five new production centres. It spent around Rs 300,000 this year in encouraging people to buy BIS-compliant flags.

At present, the khadi cloth, as per specification, is manufactured by the Karnataka Khadi Gram Udyog Sangh in Hubli, while the processing is done in Mumbai.

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