NELLORE: The sale of sarees in both Venkatagiri and Patur of Nellore district has reduced drastically. Traders at Venkatagiri usually do business worth around Rs  20 crore during the auspicious month of Shravan, but this year, that figure fell to Rs  1 crore. This is largely because weddings and other events were either cancelled or postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As per reports, during this season, traders of Venkatagiri did business worth Rs  18 crore in 2018 and Rs  20 crore in 2019. They were kept busy with consumers visiting their shops and orders pouring in, besides having to procure new stock from weavers. Now, there are no customers visiting the shops, which wear a deserted look. Only a few traders have been receiving orders online.

Venkatagiri sarees are made of pure cotton with fine zari work and finishing. Weavers in the region are also trained in making a variety of silk sarees for various famous brands. The tradition of making handwoven sarees in the region has a 300-year history, and the products are in demand across the country. Traders and consumers from various parts of India visit Venkatagiri to buy sarees, and many traders stocked up on new varieties in view of the holy month of Shravan.

Sarees are piled up in godowns, but no trading has been happening. “We were anticipating good business during Shravan, but have not received the expected orders for the last three months. We usually sell at least 350-400 expensive sarees each week at this time of the year. But due to the pandemic, people are not coming to buy sarees, and there are no festive occasions either,” said NV Rao, a trader from Venkatagiri town, which has about 3,000 looms. Traders export sarees to popular showrooms in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, among other cities. But since the lockdown was enforced, the number of orders they received plummeted.

Narendra, another trader from Venkatagiri, says the few people who visit the shops are from within the town. “We usually receive bulk orders from showrooms in Bengaluru a month before Shravan, but this time, there were no orders. We had bought silk and other zari sarees in bulk from master weavers in view of the festive season. Now the master weavers are demanding at least half the cost of the sarees. We are in a fix and don’t know how long this will continue,” he said. Meanwhile, Patur, in Kovur segment, which usually witnesses business worth Rs  2-3 lakh per day during this season, has seen the figure shrink to just Rs  20,000-25,000 per day. Almost every household in Patur is connected to handlooms, weaving or trading in some way or the other. Most Patur sarees are made out of silk, but cotton sarees too are popular.