Har Ghar Tiranga campaign boosts Tricolour sales

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Independence Day celebrations, shopkeepers in Delhi said that the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped boost sales of the Indian Tricolour. Flag sales had otherwise been tepid till now.
It was 11 am when Shanu closed his shop, Diwali Led Lights, and sat in the newly-opened shop at Sadar Bazar. In the morning, Shanu sold 15-20 flags, however, the rakhi sales were down. The price of every flag varied depending on its size. As the customer rushed into the shop asking for the price of the flag, Shanu politely replied, “Rs 50 per piece.”
While speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Shanu said, “Since my brother has opened this new shop, we are not able to sell flags because people are quite unaware. Our primary business was selling lightbulbs, but we thought of opening this new shop. My brother primarily thought of selling Rakhis but this is the first time, the Rakhi sales are lower and the flag sales have increased.”
Most of the shops selling Rakhis agree with this. Another shop in Sadar Bazar said, “After declaring the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, flag sales have increased. As a result, the manufacturing units are also struggling to meet demands due to the unavailability of materials.”
Speaking of the prices and the number of flags sold till this morning, the shopkeeper added, “Around 500 flags have been sold today (Wednesday) and we have made sales of Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000. This is the first time we have seen such huge orders ahead of the 76th Independence Day. The prices have increased as well, earlier, the price was around Rs 50, which has now increased to Rs 100 this year and more.”
The sale of satin-quality fabric flags has increased since cotton is expensive and also unavailable right now. He added, “Also, people who sell flags on pavements or roadside have also started to buy flags from the shops at a lower rate and sell them outside at a higher rate. We have a wholesale market here, the flags are selling faster and the prices are three or four times higher.” Many underprivileged people are also arranging money in order to sell flags somewhere else, as claimed by several shopkeepers.
The shop, Victoria Fashion Accessories, Sadar Bazar, which primarily sold Rakhi, has also started selling flags due to the low Rakhi sales. “Our Rakhi sales have been down, no one is buying much Rakhi as compared to last year. Since we are new to this flag selling thing, most of the customers are unaware and have not been buying much. We are facing a loss since manufacturing units are unable to meet the demand. Almost all the flags have been purchased by customers.”
Such enormous flag sales have created a huge excitement among traders due to the campaign declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 22, 2022. Several shops in Sadar Bazar have their manufacturing units in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. Due to the sudden surge, most of the shopkeepers have also been working overtime.
“I came to the shop at 6 am and the customers started arriving at 8 am onwards. My boss isn’t here and two employees are on leave, so we are working overtime,” he told this paper and rushed to attend to the customers who have been continuously requesting him to lower the prices of the flags.
Several Delhiites have also ordered the national flags online at a nominal price of just Rs 25. Indian Post Offices have been selling 20 x 30 inches without any delivery charges, and over 1 crore national flags are sold in 10 days.