A Presentation On Nedfi Haat 536u3r

A PRESENTATION ON “IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF NEDFi HAAT ON THE UNORGANIZED SECTORS OF THE REGION”

BY PALLAB KUMAR SARMA MBA 3RD SEM. GAUHATI UNIVERSITY Roll No.-700/11 2011-13

INTRODUCTIONTitle of the project-“Impact assessment of NEDFi Haat on the unorganized sectors of the region” Place of the studyGuwahati and other related areas of Assam. Duration Two months (June –July ,2012) Organizational Guide- Mr. Ashim Kumar Das, Asst.General Manager,NEDFi OrganizationNorth Eastern Development Financial Corporation.( NEDFi)

About NEDFi Haat NEDFi haat platform created for the unorganized sector by NEDFi at Ambari, Guwahati in December 2002 for promoting marketing of the products of the unorganized sector is now a popular exhibition ground among the craftsmen and weavers associated with the indigenous handloom and handicraft sector. NEDFi Haat helps to commercialize and promote the ethnic food and traditional handloom of the region. Government Agencies like DRDA, NEHHDC, NSIC, SIFT etc prefer the platform to organize their fairs to promote the marketing of their beneficiaries. NEDFi Haat is a t initiative of Department of Industries, Govt. of Assam and NEDFi.

Unorganized sector and the other parties associated with NEDFi haat-

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY • Analyze the competitiveness and popularity of NEDFi Haat in comparison to other platforms providing the same facility within Guwahati from fair organizers, participants and customers point of view and find out the drawbacks and advantages of NEDFi haat . • To find out if NEDFi Haat is achieving its real goal. i.edeveloping the standard of living of the people who are involved in production of handloom, handicrafts and other traditional outfits, by providing them a proper platform for promoting their product.

• Find out the satisfaction level of organizers , who organizes trade fair and other events on behalf of NEDFi, in NEDFi Haat, and their future requirements and expectations from NEDFi Haat. • What is the satisfaction level of customers , who are in a relation with NEDFi Haat for a long period of time and what is their views regarding the products they bought in NEDFi Haat

METHODOLOGY Data collection mode- Questionnaire and telephonic interview. Sources of dataPrimary data only. Type of researchDescriptive cross sectional. Sample sizeOrganizer-10 Participant-63 Customer- 100

Sampling methodIn order to serve my purpose I have used stratified random sampling for customers and participants. The list of the organizers those are included in sample size are given by NEDFi . Statistical tools and techniquesFor better understanding of the study I have used tables, percentages.bar diagrams, column diagrams, pie diagrams, cylindrical diagrams, conical diagrams, pyramid diagrams, doughnuts etc.For analyzing responses received I have used Rating scales and likert table.

Scope and Limitation ScopeThe study has been divided into three parts. Organizer survey (Sample size 10) Participant survey (Sample size- 63) Customer survey (Sample size – 100)

Limitation• Time factor basically prevent me to take limited no. of sample size. Time factor is the most important limiting factor, as more response would have highlighted a very clear scenario of the study. • Some of the respondents were not interested to give all the answers. • Some of the respondents were reluctant to provide information as it involves revealing the internal matters of the organization.

Respondents have been asked various types of questions relating to the topic. Three different questionaires were prepared and used to collect responses from fair organizers, participants and customers separately. Starting with organizers ,the analysis and interpretation of respondents opinion is presented, one after the other in the form of the tables.

FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY From Organizer’s survey• Most of the organizers conduct fairs at NEDFi Haat for more than 3 times a year. • Most of the oraganizers are conducting fairs at NEDFi haat for a period of more than 5 years

From organizers point of view, about some attributes of NEDFi haat , the following results were found• Parking Place- Most of the organizers said that the parking facility of NEDFi haat should be improved. • Transportation and Communication- Transportation and communication advantages due to location of NEDFi haat is excellent according to the organizers. • Electricity- The electricity facility ,mainly the lighting facility in NEDFi haat is not up to the mark ,according to most of the organizers. • Air conditioning – The present air conditioning system in NEDFi haat is not proper according to most of the organizers. • Drinking waterThere is not a proper facility of drinking water system in NEDFi haat according to organizers.

• Staff assistance- The staffs of NEDFi haat are very cooperative and helpful to the organizers as most of them said. • Maintenance- The maintenance of building and other facilities in NEDFi haat is excellent according to the organizers. • Building- The building of NEDFi haat is good , but most of the organizers think that the outside stalls must be assimilated to main building. • House -keeping/cleaning- The cleaning and house keeping facility is excellent in NEDFi haat according to the organizers. • Rent paid:Benefits.- Most of the organizers think that the rent they paid for conducting fairs at NEDFi haat is relatively higher in comparison to the benefits and facilities they gets from NEDFi haat.

• Overall experience of the organizers with NEDFi haat is good. • Most of the organizers use another platforms within Guwahati to conduct fairs, but when they are asked to rank those according to their experience accordingly, including NEDFi haat, all of them ranked NEDFi haat first among all.

From Participant's survey• There are mainly three kinds of participantshandloom dealers, handicraft dealers and home made and traditional food item dealers. • The no. of participants participating in NEDFi haat fairs started increasing in a significant rate , since year 2007. • The products that the participants exhibit in the fairs are manufactured by themselves. But some of the raw materials which are not available here has been bought by them from other North eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland.

• Manufacturing and selling of the products in fairs is the only source of income for most of the participants. • The participants are almost equally consists of mainly two groups, - family business groups and non-family business groups. Non family business groups mainly consists of NGO’s and self help groups. • All of the participants had raised their level of minimum annual income in a significant rate by selling their products at NEDFi haat except from handicraft dealers. • There are a sum total of 553 people till now, employed under the participants of sample size. This is an outcome of an increasing rate of employment for past 18 years since 1994.

• Most of the participants think that it is profitable to sell their products in NEDFi haat ,rather than in local market because they get the right price for their products only in NEDFi haat. But some of them said it is not profitable, because most of the times they are assigned to participate in the fairs which are in off season. At that time the no. of customers visiting NEDFi haat is less and their sales goes down. • Most of the participants are not satisfied with the charges they have to pay for participating in the fairs. They said that in last two years the charges goes up relatively high. It must be lowered and for participating in the fairs of off season, there must be a concession to the charges. • All of the participant said that their overall experience with NEDFi Haat is good.

• Most of the participants said that they are willing to participate in NEDFi haat fairs in future, but some of them said they are not willing to because of the increasing participating fees and most of the time getting inappropriate time slots. • Almost all of the participants said that they think NEDFi haat helps them to promote their products, but yet some of them said that , due to lack of space in stalls, they are unable to display all of their products to customers.

From Customer’s survey• Most of the customers of NEDFi haat are buying products from NEDFi haat for a period of minimum 3 years to a maximum of more than 5 years. • In handloom most of the customers prefer “Mekhela Sadar” rather than other products in this category. • In handicraft most of the customers prefer bags and purses, jewelleries and ornaments and candles and incense sticks rather than other products in this category. • In home- made food items , customer’s most preferable products are pickles and traditional home made food items such as laru –pitha etc.

• In case of handloom products , customers are satisfied with its quality, variety and seller’s behavior, but they think that there is a lack of innovation in it-s style and design and pricing of handloom products is very high. • In handicraft, customers think that they are most authentic and unique, pricing, seller’s behavior is satisfactory, but there must be improvement in its style and deg. • In home- made food items category , customers are overall satisfied with price, taste, variety, freshness, quality and seller’s behavior. • All of the customers said that their overall experience with NEDFi haat is good. • Most of the customers prefer NEDFi haat more than other trde fairs because of the available variety of best quality authentic and traditional product under one roof. But some of them said that they prefer other trade fairs more because the products of NEDFi haat lacks in new style and design and the pricing is relatively higher than the outside market..

Recommendations of the study From Organizer’s perspective• Car parking facility in NEDFi haat must be improved . • There is a need for improvement in the lighting and other electricity facility within NEDFi haat • The installation and positioning of A.C machines should be proper, so that the whole air conditioning system works well. • A proper drinking water facility should be make avail for the participants , organizers as well as the customers inside NEDFi haat.

• If possible, the outside stalls must be assimilated with the inside stalls in the main building, which would give a more better look NEDFi haat. • If possible, the rent that the organizers paid for conducting fairs should be lowered down a little during off seasons.

From Participant’s perspective• There is a need for taking special care of Handicraft dealers of NEDFi haat. There must be more specialized fairs in NEDFi haat where the exhibition would be only of handicraft products. Because at most of the times in NEDFi haat fairs where handloom and handicraft items are exhibit together ,the focus of the customers always goes upon handloom products. Therefore the no. of fairs must be increased where only handicraft products are exhibited.

• Most of the participants complained that they didn’t get appropriate time slot in participating fairs. The appropriate time slot is the fairs which were organized in peak seasons(during puja, bihu etc.).As the no. of such occasions are less in a year in comparison to the no. of the participants that are willing to participate in peak seasons. Therefore in my point of view, the no. of fairs in peak seasons should increase and the duration of these fairs should be less. So that more and more possible no. of participants can participate in those fairs.

• If possible, in off seasons, the participating charges of the participants should be lowered to encourage them. • If possible, the no. and space of the stalls should be increased.

From Customer’s perspective • The price of handloom products should be lowered and more innovation in style and deg should be introduced. • In handicraft , the styles, designs and trends of manufacturing should be modernized. • The exhibition of traditional and home -made food items should be done in a large scale. • The pricing of the products should be lower down and more innovative design and styles should be introduced to compete with other trade fairs.

CONCLUSION NEDFi haat is a platform for the unorganized sectors of the region , i.e. the weavers, craftsmen and the people involved in making other ethnic and traditional items. The main objective of NEDFi haat is to promote and market their products to ensure their maximum welfare and encourage the whole unorganized sector. Till now, NEDFi haat had achieved its objectives up to a satisfactory extent. But still there is a need of some changes to be made to ensure better fulfillment of the objectives. From the whole study I had find out the following areas which needs either a change ,or an improvement, or need to be taken special care.

• The first area that need some changes is the building. NEDFi haat is composites of 26 fabricated inside stalls and a open space outside the building to place temporary stalls during fairs. Most of the time participants who gets the outside stalls feels like getting neglected and thinks that as they are paying almost a equal fees for participating in fair, so they have the right to get the same facilities as well as the inside stalls. Therefore , in my point of view, if possible ,the outside stalls must be assimilated with the main building, to ensure maximum satisfaction if the participants. Moreover it will increase the overall space of NEDFi haat and give the place a more better gorgeous look.

• The charges that have to be paid by organizers and participants for conducting and participating in fair, if possible , should be lowered and if possible there should be concession in those charges during off seasons. • This study also reveals that, in comparison to handloom and food items, the growth in the income level of the unorganized sector involved in handicraft manufacturing is less. Therefore , more innovations in design and styles should be implemented in handicrafts and more no. of handicraft fairs should be organized at NEDFi haat.

• The most important matter is the asg appropriate time slot ( during peak seasons like, bihu, puja etc.) to the participants for participating in the fairs. The study reveals that most of the participants wants to participate in peak seasons only. But as the space is limited in NEDFi haat and no. of participants are more , to tackle the current situation I recommend that during peak seasons, the no. of fairs should be increased and the duration of fairs should be decreased and in each of the fairs the participants must be different. By this way maximum no. of participants would get the chance and customers would get a large variety of products.

• For handloom products, the main problem is its inflexible pricing policy and lack of innovation in its style and design. These matters ,regarding handloom products should be taken seriously. Mostly, the prices should be lowered. • The fair of home- made food products should be done at NEDFi haat in a large scale, because customers satisfaction level regarding this category of product is very high..

Some of the other sectors that has been taken care of are• Car parking facility • Electricity facility • A.C machines inside NEDFi haat • Drinking water facility inside NEDFi haat.

But above all, from the whole study ,it has been clearly understood that , the platform known as NEDFi haat, which has been created for marketing and promoting products of unorganized sectors is now become most popular exhibition ground among the craftmen, weavers and the other people associated with it ,along with the fair organizers and customers. NEDFi haat created more employment opportunities in unorganized sectors and raised the income level of the unorganized sectors of the region by providing them a proper platform for promoting and marketing of their products.

This study also reveals the feasibility of establishing another NEDFi haat within Guwahati, having same locational advantage as the present one. This feasibility is indicated by lack of enough space in the present one and the increasing no. of participants. For experimental basis, NEDFi can organize a fair in a hired ground within Guwahati, in a large scale, having maximum no. of participants. On the basis of the response of customers and the total sales of the participants , appropriate decision can be taken. At least there should be a space available to NEDFi , to conduct fairs in peak seasons, other than NEDFi haat, even on a temporary basis.

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