Trade decentralisation takes toll on MJ mart fortunes

It appears that the last bastion of Mumbai's cotton textile wholesale market is slowly crumbling. The Mulji Jetha (MJ) wholesale market, once the largest market of its kind in Asia, no longer holds the importance for the textile trade as it once did.

"About 15 years ago, the MJ market was the hub of the wholesale textile trade in the country. It was crowded all the time and often, there would not be enough place for customers, traders, retailers etc to even stand. Traders from all over the country would come here," said a trader.

Of late, the city's buzzing wholesale textile markets, and especially the MJ market located in the busy Kalbadevi area, have been undergoing a rough patch.

"The Datta Samant strike was a big blow to this industry. The mills in Mumbai shut down. As a result, the textile trade here took a major blow. On the national level, the industry was not affected because many regional centres came up in the meanwhile," said Pankaj Thakkar, secretary, Mumbai Textile Merchants' Mahajan (Association).

Decentralisation of the textile trade has been one of the primary reason for the MJ market losing its importance. "Surat, Bhilwara and Ahmedabad came up as other major regional centres. The market became consumer-oriented. Supply was based completely on the demand," said another trader at the MJ market.

"Maximum trading in mill cloth took place at the MJ market. Power looms appeared as the nearest, cheapest option for traders. They also cut the cost by 20-25 per cent than mill cloth," said Surendra Tulsidas Savai, president, Mumbai Textile Merchants' Mahajan.

Savai has accused the state government for the deplorable plight of the M J market. "Since 1980, at least 15 agencies including the Wankhede report and fire brigade have stressed decongestion of the market. But the government has done little for the city's most important trading centre," he said.

Over the years, half the traders at the MJ market have gone out of business. The business has dwindled by almost 90 per cent in the last fifteen years. The nearby Mangaldas market has changed character and became a retail hub.

Other wholesale markets in the Kalbadevi area are also gradually turning into retail centres. Gold traders now occupy nearly 50 per cent of the Laxmidas market.

Savai finds stagnation in the market and feels that the market needs to move with time. "The MJ market could have converted into a textile mall. The younger generation is unwilling to continue the business because it finds the market traditional," he said.

On the future of Asia's largest wholesale textile market, he said, "There will be a textile boom in India. Indian textile is considered superior to the Chinese product. But the system has to change. The MJ market will ultimately have to become retail, if it has to survive."