The Hindu Business Line : Grey shades of good old cotton

Dignitaries from the cotton textiles sector, Government officials, scientists and several others from the trade and industrycrowded the Indian Merchants' Chamber.

After the usual inaugural session, one of the trade bodies, the Bombay Ready Cotton Brokers Association, decided to felicitate senior cotton traders from different parts of the country for their long service to the trade. More than 20 senior members of the association were invited to the stage and a memento was handed over to each of them as a token of appreciation.

People had come from as far away as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. While some could walk up to the stage on their own, several others had to be helped. It was a heart-warming sight — to see a young grandson or granddaughter accompany the senior person to the stage.

What struck one was the fact that nearly three-fourths of those present in the hall that day were above 50 years of age. It was surely not a conference intended only for senior traders. It was a general meeting of all those connected with the cotton trade.

Among the participants, many were in their 70s and 80s. A large number had been in the business for 40 to 50 years and at least a handful had worked in the cotton trade for as long as 60 years.

What was unique was that the 20-odd senior traders felicitated that day represented a combined experience of 1,000 man-years!

Mr Bhadrakumar Bangdiwala, President of the association, himself 60 (but looking much younger) and in business for nearly 40 years, was ecstatic. His father, Mr Shripatlal Bangdiwala, was the Founder-President of the association, and that day the son had the opportunity to felicitate his aged father.

Is the cotton trade greying? One could not escape the thought. It is not often that one comes across a large number of youngsters in the cotton trade. Young persons in the trade, more often than not, are there because cotton has been their family business for decades.

Of course, the trade is changing. The small number of youngsters in the market is formally educated and computer-savvy.

But the attraction of the commodity market seems to be waning; possibly more attractive and less unglamorous avenues are opening up, like stock broking.

With thinning margins and burgeoning imports, the domestic cotton trade is at the crossroads.

It must think of utilising the more than 1,000 years combined experience of its senior traders to come up with new ideas to expand business opportunities.

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