Like Christmas in the West or the Puja-Dasara festivals in India, the Eid season in Bangladesh has lately won a considerably large space in the economic spotlight. Business activities centring on the largest religious festival in the country have been on the rise with every passing year. The phrase Eid economy is now well set in our economic jargons.
A relatively new aspect of the Eid economy is the involvement of youths and rural women. Newer entrepreneurs banking on Eid celebrations have kept emerging in the last 10-15 years. They are exploring hitherto untapped areas by using their business ingenuity. Most of these entrepreneurs have little experience in business. Alongside male youths, women constitute a dominant section in this class of entrepreneurs. Only the other day, newspaper photographs showed village women and small girls sewing designed caps and prayer mats targeting Eid. While another image had workers at a ramshackle workshop in old Dhaka making trinkets, that are in high demand during the festival. Eid-related business activities were earlier confined to the big cities and small towns only. Nowadays, remote villages too come alive with one or another locally based income-generating business venture as Eid draws near. A few pockets in the country remain engaged in the handling of the Eid merchandise round the year.
The Eid commerce, has, however, been carving out a significant place in the country's economy since the post-independence period. The premier products which have been enjoying increasing popular demand during the festival include clothes, shoes, and food items. By making gorgeous saris for women, Panjabis for young men, dresses for teenage girls and boys, and children, lots of manufacturers and businesses entered the scene in the eighties. At the same time, a few houses dedicated themselves to catering to the demands of elderly men and women. Thanks to the ever-expanding sphere of Eid celebrations, coupled with colourful fanfare, the special festival apparels continue to undergo marvellous innovations in fashion-designing. The media hype around the great festival has had a major contribution to the creation of demands for newer-fashion clothing. All this has helped in the eventual establishment of a unique sector of the economy based on Eid festivities. As we stepped into the 16th year of the twenty-first century, our Eid economy appeared to have found its footing. It is no wonder that with the fast widening of its frontiers, the Bangladesh economy will one day have its spotlight firmly fixed on the Eid market. Apart from the large urban areas like Dhaka and Chittagong, the other big and small cities and towns, too, these days witness Eid markets pulsating with enthusiastic shoppers. The Eid sales have steadily been contributing to the strengthening of region-based economies in the country. The activity finally ends up being a major fillip to the national economy.
Coming to small-capital Eid entrepreneurship, one would like to mention the artisans engaged in production of different festival items for generations. They include people weaving saris, makers of children's wear, people supplying handmade shoes, bangles, cheap jewellery, trinkets etc. The handloom centres in different parts of the country have long been playing a major role in the production of cotton saris, especially the Jamdani and Tangail varieties. Silk saris and Panjabis in bulk are produced in small cottage industries, besides factories, in greater Rajshahi region. Of late, a few areas in the country have started supplying quality shoes to the big-city markets. Artisans in these areas have proven their expertise in making other leather objects like ladies bags, belts and purses. Though negligible in quantity compared to the massive supplies from state-of-the-art leather product industries, handmade leather items have their own clientele.
The fast expanding Eid economy includes many other festival products. Lavishly designed expensive saris enjoy a dominant place in this list. These traditional women's wears come mainly from Mirpur in Dhaka. The area in the city is famed for its Benarasi and Katan saris. Weavers in the area also manufacture Ranguli, Maslin Galaxy, Organza and other types of saris. In the last few decades, the Benarasi hub at Mirpur has emerged as a vibrant business centre. These costly saris are in high demand during the wedding season as bridal costumes. But their demand also soars prior to Eid-ul-Fitr among a class of affluent people. Apart from saris, other types of exquisite Eid dresses for young women are also manufactured at the Mirpur Benarasi centre. The centre is located in an area stretching from Mirpur-10 to Mirpur-11. Wholesalers buy saris and colourful dresses from the mostly non-Bengalee craftsmen at the 'village'. These products go to the Eid markets across the country.
Mirpur Benarasi Palli, the official name of the sari centre, started its journey in 1947 in the then East Pakistani capital of Dhaka. The venture of weaving expensive saris and selling those was the brainchild of some skilled craftsmen who migrated from Bihar's Benaras to Dhaka. These non-Bengalee Muslims launched their project as a cottage industry. They stayed back in Bangladesh after the country's independence in 1971. By the decade of the nineties, the sari centre started showing economic potential. The older craftsmen were joined by new-generation weavers, with the job becoming a family business among many residents of the Mirpur sari centre. Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) declared the sari hub a Benarasi Palli in 1995. Although there are a number of Benarasi Pallis in Bangladesh, the one in Dhaka has earned the reputation of being the premier Benarasi sari manufacture and business centre in the country.
Another sector in clothing business that undergoes Eid resurgence is that of denim trousers. These dresses are made in local small apparel industries in Keraniganj, on the bank of the Buriganga across Dhaka. The readymade jeans garment hub started its journey 10-15 years ago, with their production limited to a handful of small factories. The apparels, thanks to their neat finishing, in to time attracted young lower middle-class buyers. Seeing the surge in their sales, a few factories eventually included shirts and other male and female clothing items in their production list. As had been expected, this domestic readymade garment sector began experiencing a business boom during Eid festivals in the following years. Like the Benarasi Pallis, the jean clothing sector serving local clients has been able to attain a remarkable status in the country's Eid economy.
The festival clothes apart, food items also enjoy brisk sales during the month-long Ramadan leading to Eid. The food market witnesses added pouring-in of capital, so does the transport sector --- which is found engaged in hectic business in the few days before and after Eid. Long-haul road and river transports in large numbers are put into operation to carry people home and back.
According to Bangladesh Bank sources, the days centring on Eid witness transactions ten times more than that during normal period. Given this observation, the Eid economy deserves a special recognition in the country's overall economy. In the run-up to Eid, both the large-capital, and established, business houses and locally-based small-capital ventures infuse big dosage of energy into the economy. What makes the businesses on the fringe of the mainstream economy distinctive is their latent power and enthusiasm. Many can sustain the tempo even after Eid and, finally, they join the club of big players in the economy.
shihabskr@ymail.com
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