By Amir Zia
Money Matters
The News
September 10, 2012
The real headache for the organisers was not the Shiv Sena protest or the arrival of the Mumbai monsoon; it was the overzealous Indian Customs. Of a total of 57 exhibitors, almost half sat by empty stalls for the first four days of the six-day exhibition, desperately waiting for customs officials to give the green signal to their goods.
It may not have been the best of times to take an exhibition of Pakistani goods to Mumbai, the birthplace of the Hindu nationist party Shiv Sena. But it also was not the worst of times to undertake this long-awaited venture into India’s financial and commercial hub. The memories of the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai by Islamic militants, allegedly orchestrated by a banned Pakistani radical group Lashkar-e-Taiba, still haunt many citizens of India’s largest city. While relations between the two countries have luckily moved beyond this bitter episode, the attacks remain a reference point in the discussions of Mumbaikars. And for the Shiv Sena and other fundamentalist Hindu nationalist forces, Islamabad remains a favourite punching bag and anti Pakistan rhetoric often helps galvanise their rank-and-file. For this reason alone, any trade and business venture of Pakistani origin needs to tread carefully in the lair of Shiv Sena, which has not yet softened its stance despite all the positive vibes from New Delhi regarding the normalisation of relations between the two South Asian nuclear powers.
So when the Made in Pakistan Expo 2012 opened in Mumbai’s World Trade Centre on August 31 this year, it was not business as usual for the organisers – the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). On their shoulders lay the unenviable task of ensuring that they neither over- nor undersold the Pakistan card.
Most countries try to take a slice of their culture to trade fairs in foreign lands. As such, such events often feature local music, national colours and the inevitable national flag. However, in Mumbai, the organisers had to tread cautiously in promoting Brand Pakistan. So the advertising and marketing campaigns for the event were subdued and notably bereft of the colour green and the Pakistani flag. While the organisers did manage a handful of hoardings, bus-wraps and newspaper advertisements, the placement of the ‘Made in Pakistan’ tagline was that befitting a brand, rather than a country-specific fair.
However, this nod at the sensitivities of the Shiv Sena wasn’t enough to deter its activists from performing their duty of staging a small protest on the opening day of the exhibition. (That said, the protest was seen more as a symbolic gesture rather than any meaningful attempt to disrupt the event.) And ironically enough, the protest and the consequent news coverage only served to draw more eyeballs to the event than the timid advertising campaign had done.
However, the real headache for the organisers was not the Shiv Sena protest or the arrival of the Mumbai monsoon; it was the overzealous Indian Customs. Of a total of 57 exhibitors, almost half sat by empty stalls for the first four days of the six-day exhibition, desperately waiting for customs officials to give the green signal to their goods at the Wagah-Attari border.
As organisers ran from pillar to post to get consignments cleared, there were controversies regarding the purportedly jacked up duty on Pakistani goods as well as last-minute objections from customs officials who allegedly demanded, for example, certification about a dye from a particular laboratory or an application written on a particular official letterhead. (The expo was finally extended by three days for those exhibitors who’d not received their goods on time.)
But did these glitches translate into the failure of the expo? Not by a long shot, if the number of visitors it drew is any indication. Further, a number of leading brands – almost 90 percent of exhibitors were from the textiles sector – managed not just to sell up to 70 percent of their goods, they also claimed to have made valuable contacts.
Admittedly, the Mumbai expo could not match the size, scope and grandeur of the four-day Lifestyle Pakistan Fair held in April this year in New Delhi. However, the point that needs to be remembered is that the latter was an initiative backed by both Islamabad and New Delhi. Given that this fair was a private-sector initiative in the untested-for-14-years waters of Mumbai, the fair can safely be said to have made quite a few waves.
Interestingly, it wasn’t just the leading brands such as Al Karam or Gul Ahmed – which are familiar with the Indian market – that benefitted from the expo; some first-timers and smaller players also managed to sell most of their stock and make contacts.
Kokab Zia of Designer Wear, Karachi, caters to a niche European market – Paris particularly – claimed to be thrilled by the response she got in India. “The Indian women loved our designs, which are aimed at high-end users. Not only did I manage good sales, I’ve even gotten some valuable contacts,” she enthused.
Lahore retailer Imran Khurshid of Times Clothing had similar luck. “We brought 150 outfits and have only about a dozen left,” he said on the fifth day of the exhibition. “We saw this expo not as a retail sale opportunity, but to make future contacts. And we have done well in introducing our brand to the Indian market.”
However, there were losers as well. Mohammed Nadeem of Lisa Wear in Lahore barely sold five percent of his stock. “We haven’t even managed to recover the rent of the stall, the travelling and boarding expenses; everything will go from our pocket,” he said. “But such things happen; profit and loss go hand-in-hand.”
According to veteran exporters, many Pakistani businesses which sign up for such exhibitions fail to research the Indian market adequately and rarely do the spadework required to make sales. “Buyers in Mumbai are very picky and choosy about clothes; it’s a market very different from the New Delhi one,” said Huzaifa Eassabhai of Gul Ahmed. “You’ll see mostly working women here and they don’t want gaudy and heavily embroidered stuff. We made good sales because we knew the market.”
Given the appreciation accorded to Pakistani textiles – in terms of design, variety and quality – many businesses have returned convinced about the vast potential of the Indian market.
It’s a sentiment that is echoed on the other side of the border as well. Vijay G. Kalantri, president of the All India Association of Industries and chairman of Dighi Port Ltd, points towards the fact that many Pakistani goods land in India after detours to Dubai and other countries. “The official trade volume will shoot up to $10 billion from the current $2 billion within the next five years once Pakistan grants India the status of most favoured nation by the year-end and New Delhi removes non-tariff barriers,” he said.
According to Kalantri, such exhibitions help pave the way for better relations. “Traders and businesspeople want good relations with Pakistan,” he insisted. “This will help both countries reduce unemployment and ensure economic development for the greater good of their people. Neither nation can afford the arms race nor the massive defence expenditure they incur at present.”
Like Kalantri, many Pakistanis and Indians are bullish on trade. And this is the reason their respective governments are taking their cues from these new advocates of peace. While progress is slow and the resolution of contentious political issues slower still, the ice has been broken – at least on the economic and trade front. Baby steps – both symbolic and concrete – have been taken by both countries. But the most creditable aspect is that in doing so, both have managed to break away from an acrimonious past and keep relations on track despite challenges from hardliners and non-state actors.
Money Matters
The News
September 10, 2012
The real headache for the organisers was not the Shiv Sena protest or the arrival of the Mumbai monsoon; it was the overzealous Indian Customs. Of a total of 57 exhibitors, almost half sat by empty stalls for the first four days of the six-day exhibition, desperately waiting for customs officials to give the green signal to their goods.
It may not have been the best of times to take an exhibition of Pakistani goods to Mumbai, the birthplace of the Hindu nationist party Shiv Sena. But it also was not the worst of times to undertake this long-awaited venture into India’s financial and commercial hub. The memories of the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai by Islamic militants, allegedly orchestrated by a banned Pakistani radical group Lashkar-e-Taiba, still haunt many citizens of India’s largest city. While relations between the two countries have luckily moved beyond this bitter episode, the attacks remain a reference point in the discussions of Mumbaikars. And for the Shiv Sena and other fundamentalist Hindu nationalist forces, Islamabad remains a favourite punching bag and anti Pakistan rhetoric often helps galvanise their rank-and-file. For this reason alone, any trade and business venture of Pakistani origin needs to tread carefully in the lair of Shiv Sena, which has not yet softened its stance despite all the positive vibes from New Delhi regarding the normalisation of relations between the two South Asian nuclear powers.
So when the Made in Pakistan Expo 2012 opened in Mumbai’s World Trade Centre on August 31 this year, it was not business as usual for the organisers – the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). On their shoulders lay the unenviable task of ensuring that they neither over- nor undersold the Pakistan card.
Most countries try to take a slice of their culture to trade fairs in foreign lands. As such, such events often feature local music, national colours and the inevitable national flag. However, in Mumbai, the organisers had to tread cautiously in promoting Brand Pakistan. So the advertising and marketing campaigns for the event were subdued and notably bereft of the colour green and the Pakistani flag. While the organisers did manage a handful of hoardings, bus-wraps and newspaper advertisements, the placement of the ‘Made in Pakistan’ tagline was that befitting a brand, rather than a country-specific fair.
However, this nod at the sensitivities of the Shiv Sena wasn’t enough to deter its activists from performing their duty of staging a small protest on the opening day of the exhibition. (That said, the protest was seen more as a symbolic gesture rather than any meaningful attempt to disrupt the event.) And ironically enough, the protest and the consequent news coverage only served to draw more eyeballs to the event than the timid advertising campaign had done.
However, the real headache for the organisers was not the Shiv Sena protest or the arrival of the Mumbai monsoon; it was the overzealous Indian Customs. Of a total of 57 exhibitors, almost half sat by empty stalls for the first four days of the six-day exhibition, desperately waiting for customs officials to give the green signal to their goods at the Wagah-Attari border.
As organisers ran from pillar to post to get consignments cleared, there were controversies regarding the purportedly jacked up duty on Pakistani goods as well as last-minute objections from customs officials who allegedly demanded, for example, certification about a dye from a particular laboratory or an application written on a particular official letterhead. (The expo was finally extended by three days for those exhibitors who’d not received their goods on time.)
But did these glitches translate into the failure of the expo? Not by a long shot, if the number of visitors it drew is any indication. Further, a number of leading brands – almost 90 percent of exhibitors were from the textiles sector – managed not just to sell up to 70 percent of their goods, they also claimed to have made valuable contacts.
Admittedly, the Mumbai expo could not match the size, scope and grandeur of the four-day Lifestyle Pakistan Fair held in April this year in New Delhi. However, the point that needs to be remembered is that the latter was an initiative backed by both Islamabad and New Delhi. Given that this fair was a private-sector initiative in the untested-for-14-years waters of Mumbai, the fair can safely be said to have made quite a few waves.
Interestingly, it wasn’t just the leading brands such as Al Karam or Gul Ahmed – which are familiar with the Indian market – that benefitted from the expo; some first-timers and smaller players also managed to sell most of their stock and make contacts.
Kokab Zia of Designer Wear, Karachi, caters to a niche European market – Paris particularly – claimed to be thrilled by the response she got in India. “The Indian women loved our designs, which are aimed at high-end users. Not only did I manage good sales, I’ve even gotten some valuable contacts,” she enthused.
Lahore retailer Imran Khurshid of Times Clothing had similar luck. “We brought 150 outfits and have only about a dozen left,” he said on the fifth day of the exhibition. “We saw this expo not as a retail sale opportunity, but to make future contacts. And we have done well in introducing our brand to the Indian market.”
However, there were losers as well. Mohammed Nadeem of Lisa Wear in Lahore barely sold five percent of his stock. “We haven’t even managed to recover the rent of the stall, the travelling and boarding expenses; everything will go from our pocket,” he said. “But such things happen; profit and loss go hand-in-hand.”
According to veteran exporters, many Pakistani businesses which sign up for such exhibitions fail to research the Indian market adequately and rarely do the spadework required to make sales. “Buyers in Mumbai are very picky and choosy about clothes; it’s a market very different from the New Delhi one,” said Huzaifa Eassabhai of Gul Ahmed. “You’ll see mostly working women here and they don’t want gaudy and heavily embroidered stuff. We made good sales because we knew the market.”
Given the appreciation accorded to Pakistani textiles – in terms of design, variety and quality – many businesses have returned convinced about the vast potential of the Indian market.
It’s a sentiment that is echoed on the other side of the border as well. Vijay G. Kalantri, president of the All India Association of Industries and chairman of Dighi Port Ltd, points towards the fact that many Pakistani goods land in India after detours to Dubai and other countries. “The official trade volume will shoot up to $10 billion from the current $2 billion within the next five years once Pakistan grants India the status of most favoured nation by the year-end and New Delhi removes non-tariff barriers,” he said.
According to Kalantri, such exhibitions help pave the way for better relations. “Traders and businesspeople want good relations with Pakistan,” he insisted. “This will help both countries reduce unemployment and ensure economic development for the greater good of their people. Neither nation can afford the arms race nor the massive defence expenditure they incur at present.”
Like Kalantri, many Pakistanis and Indians are bullish on trade. And this is the reason their respective governments are taking their cues from these new advocates of peace. While progress is slow and the resolution of contentious political issues slower still, the ice has been broken – at least on the economic and trade front. Baby steps – both symbolic and concrete – have been taken by both countries. But the most creditable aspect is that in doing so, both have managed to break away from an acrimonious past and keep relations on track despite challenges from hardliners and non-state actors.
