‘Anarkali’, ‘Teri-Meri’, ‘Kareena’, ‘Chikni Chameli’, some three-piece dresses named after Hindi television serials and movies, have flooded the Bangladesh markets ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims.
These dresses as well as Indian sarees like ‘Kanchivaram’, chiffon and georgette, enter Bangladesh in plenty both through legal and illegal routes, local market sources said.
Shops and business houses have also stockpiled huge kids’ clothing and jewellery from India, according to the sources.
OP Moloy, a prominent businessman of Kolkata’s wholesale market Barabazar, told the UNB correspondent during his recent Kolkata tour that businessmen from Dhaka and Chittagong import Salwar-Kameez and sarees worth over Tk 25 crore during Ramadan every year through LCs.
Jainul Abedin, a wholesale businessman of Chandi Chawk in Dhaka, said the sarees and Salwar-Kameez come through both legal and illegal channels as those have high demand and are supplied to markets in different parts of the county.
‘The Indian dresses are favourite to girls and women.  Indian Anarkali’ and ‘Teri-Meri’ are the most sought-after dress by teenagers and young girls this year,’ Abul Kashem, a shopkeeper at the Bashundhara City mall told this correspondent.
Karim, a salesman at the Mouchak market, said ‘Dabang’ and ‘Shila Ki Jawani’, Indian Kurti and ‘Masakkali’ dresses are still selling well although those are of the previous year. He said they mainly sell clothes imported from India.
Not only Karim, most shopkeepers at Mouchak Market sell women’s sarees, teenage girls’ dresses, salwar kameez, kid’s dresses, sarees and panjabis for men - all imported from India.
Wholesalers in Kolkata said businessmen from not only Dhaka but also other cities of the country,
including Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi, go there ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr every year for the new collections of three-pieces and sarees.
Tasnuva Rahman Prema, a student of BBA of a private university said,
as the dish culture keeps on invading the country,
girls like the new dress style of the actresses in the serials of Indian TV channels.
Manager of a local supplier of three-pieces in Dhaka like ‘Chaiti’ said they suffer in their sale during Eid for the overflow of Indian three-pieces.
Meanwhile, young girls and women are seen thronging the city’s Mouchak, Gauchia, New Market, Chandi Chawk and Taltola markets, the most popular business centers for clothes and three-piece dresses for women.
‘I’ve come to Gauchia Market as shops here have better collections of Indian dresses than other markets, though the prices are relatively higher,’ said Pinky a student of Eden College.