Bihar expo sees good business

An industrial fair organised by women entrepreneurs of Bihar - showcasing traditional and trendy products - has done brisk business in the past four days and sold products worth Rs 50 lakh compared with Rs 35 lakh last year.

Organised by the Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh (BMUS), a registered body of 500 women entrepreneurs, the fair displayed clothes with Bihar's ethnic designs and processed food items. The fair, which is 12th in line, started on Monday at the Lala Lajpat Rai Bhawan. It has 63 stalls compared with last year's 50 stalls.

"We are encouraged by the growing response to the fair. Apart from a rise in sales, we received nearly 20,000 visitors this time," said BMUS president Pushpa Chopra.

Chopra is the proprietor of Chopra Udyog which produces appliqué-worked garments. The Patna-based company has an annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh, she said.

Usha Jha, entrepreneur who sells women's dress materials such as saris and salwar-suits after embroidering the ethnic Mithila painting motifs on them, said she is encouraged by the response to the ethnic-design clothes. Her boutique, Petals, in Patna has an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh.

Kiran Ranjan, proprietor of the Hajipur-based Suman Vatika Food Products (SVFP), said her products such as juice, canned lichi, honey and pickles sold "extremely well" at the fair.

SVFP, which sells its food products under the brand name of Suman Vatika, employs about 300 people and has a turnover of Rs 80 lakh. Poornima Roy, who runs a successful boutique called Fusion Fiesta in Patna and produces ethnically designed shirts and kurtas, said Bihar's people were getting increasingly fashion-conscious.

Patna High Court judge Justice Mridula Sinha, who was chief guest at the concluding ceremony of the fair on Wednesday, said BMUS deserved appreciation as it marketed products made by rural people and thus boosted rural employment.