The special Onam fair organised by Consumerfed has recorded sales of over Rs 20 crore in just four days of its opening.
The Onam fair, a market intervention effort by Consumerfed to prevent uncontrolled price rise during the festival season, began on September 1 and will be on till September 15.
Nearly 2,660 special outlets are functional across 14 districts selling 13 essential items at subsidised prices, besides an Onam ‘payasam’ kit and other non-subsidised goods.
The 13 items which are being sold at discounts of up to 30 per cent include four varieties of rice, sugar, green gram, Bengal gram, black gram, tuhar dal, red beans, coriander, two varieties of chillies and coconut oil.
Consumerfed President Joy Thomas and Managing Director Riji G Nair said that in just four days the Onam fairs saw subsidy sales of around Rs 16.84 crore and non-subsidy sales of Rs 3.7 crore.
The total Onam sales were the highest in Thrissur with Rs 3.72 crore at 338 stores, followed by Ernakulam (Rs 2 .98 crore), Palakkad (Rs 2.64 crore), Kollam (Rs 2.46 crore), Kozhikode (Rs 1.56 crore), Thiruvananthapuram (Rs 1.41 crore), Alappuzha (Rs 1.40 crore), Pathanamthitta (Rs 1.1 crore), Kannur (Rs 1.02 crore), Malappuram (Rs 66.8 lakh), Kasargod (Rs 53.1 lakh), Kottayam (Rs 44.2 lakh), Idukki (Rs 29.3 lakh) and Wayanad (Rs 28.9 lakh).
A special Ramzan fair organised for 10 days from August 1-10 saw record sales of Rs 37.04 crore through 2,707 outlets.
Festival season sale is also under way at 154 outlets at the district and assembly constituency levels and will be on until Onam. So far, these outlets have recorded sales of more than Rs 9 crore.
Together, the special Ramzan and Onam fairs and the district/assembly constituency sales have totalled Rs 67 crore with 10 more days to go for the end of the sales period.
sajeevkumar.v@thehindu.co.in