- PredominaNtly ladieswear Export quality fabric MARKET
- Price 20% less than mill rates
In the by-lanes of Gandhi Nagar’s Shanti Mohalla, one can get fabric from every possible corner of India. In this 35-year-old market there are around 1200 small and big shops doing an annual trade turnover of approximately Rs. 1500 crore. This market which started as export surplus trade, today has 70% of fabric coming directly from mills and weavers in which 90% of the fabric is for ladieswear, both knitted and woven in 100% cotton, silk, polyester, denim… all is available here.
The biggest edge that this market provides to an exporter/manufacturer of garments is that any quantity of fabric can be bought here right from as low as 2 metres (for sampling purpose) up to 1 lakh metres on the spot. “Garment manufacturers can get any variety, any quantity of fabric at Gandhi Nagar that too at 20% lesser than mill rates. They are actually saved from hassles like lead times etc. which helps them to execute their orders on time,” says Shyam Aggarwal, President, Export Surplus Cloth Merchant’s Association and also having his own trading company called Lakshya Udyog.
Today, Gandhi Nagar has 70% of fabric coming directly from mills and weavers in which 90% of the fabric is for ladieswear, both knitted and woven in 100% cotton, silk, polyester, denim… all is available here.
The reason for selling the fabrics at lesser price than the mills is not because the quality of fabric is inferior, but because of the commercial edge the traders here have. They procure the lots from the mills in huge volumes that too at cash-down payment basis which is why mills sell them at discounted rates. “Other than giving the fabrics at lesser prices we also give credit period of 2-3 months to the garment exporters, so for an exporter it’s more viable to buy fabrics from us than buying directly from the mills,” reasons Shyam who is doing a turnover of around Rs. 3 crore per annum by trading cotton, voile, chambray and polyester fabrics.
Shri Krishan Goyal of Ashish Cloth House, trading just grey fabrics reiterated that the quality of the fabric which they are selling is in no way inferior. “I sell fabric to home furnishing exporters in Delhi/NCR region and they are pretty happy with the quality of the fabric,” avers Krishan doing an annual turnover of Rs. 4 crore per annum.
Gandhi Nagar is not only catering the needs of garment exporters and domestic manufacturers but there are traders who are also exporting fabric to Bangkok and some European countries.
Meesha Fabrics is one such company owned by Naveen Jain which is doing a turnover of approximately Rs. 10 crore per annum out of which Rs. 5 crore is through the export of fabrics. “The export turnover from this entire market must not be less than Rs. 100 crore and this is when the traders do not make any efforts themselves to export their fabric, it’s the buyers from various countries who come to us,” comments Naveen who sources cotton and voile fabrics from Erode, Bhiwandi and Ichalkaranji and gets them processed in Delhi –both dyeing and printing.
Some of the traders are known for their speciality fabrics like Aggarwal Brothers who are known for white cotton and cotton Lycra fabrics. Off late this company has started trading in fire retardant fabrics. States Manoj Aggarwal, “The demand for new type of fabrics is increasing so we have started focusing on different variety of fabrics.”
In Gandhi Nagar, one can spot suiting and shirting fabrics as well. In this category, Rishabh Trading is the prominent one. This company sources fresh and export surplus fabrics from Erode, Salem and Mumbai. Abhay Jain of the company shares, “Our speciality is linen, poplin and corduroy. We can get any kind of fabric for menswear on demand.”
Rajat Traders claims to be the only shop which is catering to the requirement of silk buyers. They procure surplus stock from China, Varanasi and Bhagalpur, however if someone asks for fresh lot, they readily get the stocks. As per Rajeev Anand they always have at least 25-30 varieties in their ready stock.
Besides fabrics, accessories too are available in this market, which are bought from surplus stock of garment exporters in Delhi/NCR region. If one goes by numbers there would be around 100 plus, small or big accessory traders who are catering to the needs of garment manufacturers in the Delhi/NCR region. Pramod Lace House is in this trade for past 15 years dealing in laces and zippers. The owner Pramod Jain says, “The garment manufacturers can get all kinds of accessories in one place and at cheaper rates along with fabrics which makes their life easier.”
