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Boom time for exotic blooms
NALINI Kapadia is applauded as "the most creative wedding car decorator" in Mumbai. At almost all VIP weddings, she is commissioned to decorate vehicles in the most creative manner for the bridal couple. She also has contracts for pandal decoration, flower arrangements for corporates and celebratory bouquets and gift arrangements sent by clients to their customers during the festive season. "In the recent New Year season, I sent nearly 700 arrangements made in imported Chinese vases for a client," she says, "The recipients were famous people like Amitabh Bachchan, the Birlas, the Singhanias, and Sachin Tendulkar. I worked round the clock for four days and made the deliveries on time. I have been in the flower business for 22 years. But never have I experienced the kind of boom, which I saw in festive season of 2002. "When I started, there were only phoolwalas in the flower markets of Mumbai, who sold traditional flowers like roses, tuberoses, chrysanthemums and marigolds. Floral decorators offered torans of marigolds, tuberoses, chrysanthemums and greenery. There were a just handful of shops selling bouquets and sheafs. But now, literally thousands of men and women have come into this business and reaped the benefits of the flower business boom." The reasons for this
blossom boom in Indian cities are many. Most important among these is
that floriculture has become an exceedingly lucrative business.
"Urban Indians have become increasingly westernised," says
Nalini, "They send bouquets for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries
and other occasions. Sending flowers as seasonal or festive gifts has
also become a common practice because of the growing awareness of
fitness. No one today wants mithai or chocolates. Flowers and plants are
preferred. And even among flowers, rare and exotic blooms are preferred
because they express the taste and status of the sender. These flowers
last a week or even a fortnight and are thus good value for money. |
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"The awareness of exotic flowers has percolated to the middle class. Roadside vendors are seen selling rare blooms at busy intersections of roads and traffic signals. Young boys and girls weave between cars selling flowers and dry materials which homemakers use for creating floral arrangements for their homes. House-proud career women and society women agree that flowers are the best form of interior design and cost relatively less than expensive novelties. The proliferating exotic flower and plant shows also prove that this business is growing phenomenally." The result of this boom is that many Indian states boast huge floriculture industries. For instance, in the last 10 years, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and other states have become prime growers and exporters of hi-tech luxury flowers for the local and the European market. A business which has gathered momentum only since 1992, hi-tech floriculture yielded an export income of Rs 150 crore to India in 2002. Until the beginning of the nineties, Bangalore was called the Garden City of India. Its rose gardens were famous. Today, Bangalore has also become the city of exotic blooms, including tulips, which made Holland a famous country among flower lovers. Delhi where the flower business flourishes because of the diplomatic corps and governmental as well as business functions, has a bustling wholesale market in Connaught Place. It is considered to be the biggest in India and conducts business worth Rs 1 crore each morning in the peak season from October to January each year. Flowers come to Delhi from the surrounding states of Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Kashmir. The flower business has also changed the face of Pune, whose sprawling environs offer a vast landscape comprising hundreds of hectares devoted to growing hi-tech flowers. Pune, Kolhapur, Nasik, Lonavla and other areas of Maharashtra have caught on to the magic of growing flowers for not only the domestic market but on a large scale for export to the European market. Earlier, exotic flowers were imported from Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka but now, the Indian industry offers all the flowers needed and the import has reduced considerably. Flowers for export and hi-end consumers in India — anthuriums, tulips, lilies, gladioli, gerberas, iris, amaryllis, hyacinths, zantedeschias, carnations and several other varieties — are grown according to the latest European technology, with plants germinated and cultured in a protected environment in fully-equipped laboratories. Several Indian companies have collaborations with European flower growers, who supply not only the technology but also seeds or mother plants. These are grown in-vitro, somewhat like a human foetus, and then planted in the correct soil in a polyhouse. The flowers, when ready by international standards, are cut, packed and transported in refrigerated vans within hours to the airport. Export quality Indian flowers are flown to Holland, which is the world’s largest flower market. In Holland, the blooms are auctioned and then distributed all over Europe. Holland is the world’s hub for the flower industry, being a leader in growing tulips and other exotic flowers. Its floriculture technology is the world’s best. Holland’s floriculturists collaborate with Indian hi-tech flower cultivators to provide Europe with a plenitude of rare flowers in the winter when Europe’s gardens are frost-covered and barren. Young agro-scientists are also drawn to this industry because of its glamour, ever-new technology and export potential. Many are turning their traditional fruit orchards or flower farms into hi-tech floriculture poly-houses and are launching new business ventures. Though Holland and Israel in Europe and Colombia and the USA in South and North America are leaders in the world market, it is predicted that India will soon earn a top place among flower-exporting countries. |
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