Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 25 (IANS) People in Kerala can buy the famed Mysore silk sari from an exclusive retail outlet from Saturday.
The Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC) – which holds the patent for the sari – is opening an outlet here to meet the ever-growing demand for Mysore silk saris in the state.
“We regularly conduct exhibitions of our products in major cities in Kerala and the response has been fantastic. Hence we decided to have our first retail outlet here. Shortly we will have another one at Kochi,” KSIC manager S. Philomen Raj told reporters here Friday.
In the past three years KSIC has discontinued selling saris through dealers and opened its own outlets in Karnataka and other parts of the country. This has led to the turnover of the company going up from Rs.270 million in 2005 to Rs.410 million in 2007.
“The biggest sale of our products comes from south Indian states and last year we had an export order of Rs.3.5 million. Talks are also on for opening of our first foreign showroom in Maryland in the US,” said C. Radhakrishnan, finance head of KSIC.
“Our products are made of the finest quality natural silk and the zari (gold) used has a gold content of 0.65 percent and silver to the tune of 65 percent in a metre of cloth,” added Raj.