Cash crunch hits crafts trade

Sales dip at SMSM Institute, a souvenir haunt for tourists

December 23, 2016 01:10 am | Updated 08:56 am IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

Demonetisation has not spared even tourists who wish to take back souvenirs from Kerala.

“Sales have dipped. Foreigners give us Rs.2,000 notes, and we don’t have notes of lower denomination to give them in return,” says the manager of Sree Moolam Thirunal Shashtiabdapoorthi Memorial (SMSM) Institute, Thiruvananthapuram Central Emporium.

Foreigners have always bookmarked the SMSM Institute, located behind the Secretariat, as a popular shopping destination.

Its handcrafted items such as embroidered Pashmina shawls, palm-leaf engravings, and statues of deities offer them a range of souvenirs.

In connection with the Christmas, New Year and peak tourism season, the institute, which functions under the Handicrafts Development Corporation of Kerala, has arranged an exhibition of indigenous paintings from Odisha, ethnic saris from Kerala, and hand-embroidered kurtis from Lucknow, among others.

Not many takers

Unlike previous years’ sales that brought in profits of Rs.2-3 lakh, this tourist season has not attracted many foreigners to the institute.

Products that raked in maximum profits, such as shawls and statues of deities, have not found takers.

Silk and Pashmina shawls with prints of elephants, which were priced between Rs.850 and Rs.22,000, used to sell like hot cakes. But, post-demonetisation, there has been no movement of products, says the manager.

With the withdrawal of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes, artisans who have come from other States seem to be the most affected. Pointing to his palm leaf ‘thaliyola’ (manuscript), says Suryanarayanan, an artisan from Odisha, “I work continuously for four months to make this, by engraving the palm leaf first and then spreading neem leaf powder on it.” Having staked a lot, people like him have little profit to take back home.

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