Responding to the ‘Vocal for Local’ movement, the Indore Retail Garments Association has launched a call center to market ground-level locally manufactured garments to retailers across Madhya Pradesh. The call center uses the very recent promise to back Indian suppliers by representatives of 125 trade associations who committed to supporting local products and reducing import reliance.
The campaign hopes to reach approximately 10 lakh traders across the state and get them to avoid garments made in China, Bangladesh, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Association President Akshay Jain said that the call center is a telecommunications center that connects retailers for message equality to make them aware of supporting Indian native wear.
“We have reached over 3.5 lakh consumers with the message,” Jain said; he added that the association has compiled trader contacts from social- and nationalist-organizations to assist with outreach.
Local traders, as part of the movement, have returned foreign clothing stock worth over Rs. 20 crore (US $ 2.33 million), citing concerns about those countries’ political stance on India. More than 600 have committed to not selling imported garments, showing the shift in sentiment.
With this undertaking, the focus will be on ready-made garments from India’s textile centers like Ludhiana, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bellary, Surat, Jaipur and Indore and it is believed the boycott will support the garment industry and ultimately the self-reliance of the garment sector.
