Already hit by COVID-19, delay in Naumish exhibition spells doom for Kashmiri traders in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Gauhar Khan, 45, a Kashmiri trader, has been a regular at Hyderabad's Numaish exhibition for the past 25 years. However, this year, he is worried about losses that he is going to incur due to the deferment of the exhibition. 

Started in 1938, the All India Industrial Exhibition witnesses the annual participation of traders and artisans from far and wide. According to Aditya Margam, spokesperson and a managing committee member of the exhibition society, the exhibition sees one of the biggest gatherings of traders from Kashmir. "During Numaish, around 250 of the total 1,000 stalls are just of Kashmiri traders, selling items such as leather jackets, dry fruits, shawls, carpets and jewellery," Margam said.

Gauhar, who learnt to weave Pashmina shawls from his late mother, said that every year, soon after November, many traders like him leave Kashmir and rent places around Abids and Old City only to be able to run their stall at Numaish. 

"But, we don’t know what Allah has in mind for us this year. We paid a lot of money to get our goods transported to Hyderabad from Kashmir, but now we will probably have to take it back without any sales," lamented Ghauhar. 

Mushtaq Shah, a trader from Baramulla in Kashmir said, "We end up earning profits of around Rs 7-12 lakh every year. The last few years were bad, following the shutdown in the valley post the abrogation of Article 370 and before that, we suffered losses due to the major fire accident at Numaish. But, this year is worse."

Pointing to his unsold goods, Shah says he has not sold even 10 per cent of his wares this time. "Many of us have taken huge loans, we do not know how we will repay that," he said.

Traders in dilemma on whether to return

The deferment has led to confusion among the traders. "We don’t know if we should stay back. There is no certainty if Numaish will take place next month," said Syed Mazher, a trader