Kothagudem traders’ launch campaign to local businesses yields good results

Kothagudem: Having suffered from depletion in business volume and profits because of corporate malls, supermarkets and e-commerce companies, the traders in Kothagudem town have come together to revive their fortunes. And it is yielding good results.

The traders had set up a platform, Small Traders and Business Associations, with the slogans ‘support small businesses’ and ‘support local business community’ on November 29, 2022. The traders are not just focused on promoting the local trade, but are also working on the town’s development.The name of the platform was changed to Kothagudem Vyaparula Sankshema Sangham (Kothagudem Traders Welfare Association) on January 6 this year with a cloth merchant Morishetty Bhavani Prasad as the convener, Pallapothu Srinivas as co-convener and Hansraj Jakotia as treasurer besides a 10-member executive committee.

In all there are around 1000 small and big retail and wholesale shops engaged in textile, electrical, electronics, vegetable, gold, silver and other businesses in Chinna Bazaar and Pedda Bazaar, the business centres in the town, besides other parts of the town.Speaking to Telangana Today, the association convener Bhavani Prasad, who initiated a campaign to promote the local trade, said he has been engaged in business since 1976 in Kothagudem continuing his grandfather Morishetty Lakshmi Narasimham’s inheritance.

But in recent years many business families have left the town due to the increased number of corporate malls, supermarkets and e-commerce, which caused a drastic fall in the business of the local traders. To address the issue, the traders took up an extensive campaign on social media and educated the consumers visiting their stores about the importance of strengthening local trade. Every shop in the town displayed stickers related to the campaign, he explained.Gladly the response from the consumers is positive and there has been a 70 percent increase in overall business and 75 percent increase in textile business in the shops run by the local traders. “We are maintaining highest quality besides offering consumer goods at a cost 10 percent less than the corporate malls and supermarkets” Bhavani Prasad noted.

In the past five years 20, 000 persons from the town migrated to other places in search of livelihood due to decline in local business. The association has come up with a 14-point development agenda for Kothagudem’s development. It wrote letters to the Chief Minister, his deputy, the district ministers, Collector and SP seeking their support to implement the agenda.

The association also wrote letters to South Central Railway officials to revive many cancelled trains from Kothagudem railway station to ensure better connectivity, Bhavani Prasad added.

Citizen Welfare Committee (557/84) leader Kodamasimham Panduranga Charyulu, who supports the association’s campaign, noted that one should encourage the local businesses as the money earned by outsiders does not contribute to the development of the town.