The Hyderabad SARAS Mela grossed ₹1.49 crore in two days

A visitor at a stall set up as part of the Rural Poverty Alleviation Society-2026 fair in Hyderabad on Tuesday. | Photo credit: NAGARA GOPAL

The SARAS Mela at the HMDA Grounds on Necklace Road attracts large crowds and provides a platform to rural women entrepreneurs and artisans to showcase their products and expand their markets. The exhibition recorded a collection of 89.26 lakhs with 54,556 visitors on Monday, the sixth day. Nearly 50,000 people visited the mela on Tuesday, generating around ₹ 60 lakh in revenue, according to official sources.

Organized by the Society for the Eradication of Rural Poverty (SERP), Telangana, from October 7 to 18, the exhibition brings together rural women entrepreneurs and artisans mostly from Self Help Groups (SHGs) across the country and offers them an opportunity to showcase their products and reach out to urban consumers. A total of 205 stalls were set up with handwoven sarees, handicrafts, traditional food products, millets and household items.

Products ranging from Kashmiri carpets and Kerala spices to bamboo artefacts and traditional jewelery attract buyers. Visitors, including foreign nationals and important personalities, showed interest in the exhibits, and the organizers of the stands expressed their satisfaction with the sales.

A group of women from Manipur selling bamboo products saw sales of around ₹1,000 in a single day. The stand offers a range of useful and decorative items made from bamboo.

A SHG member builds a business for ₹1 million

Vemula Sridevi (55) of Laxidapalli village in Illanthakunta mandal of Karimnagar district has built a business with an annual turnover of around ₹ 1 crore after joining the self-help group movement. From his residence, he runs a handloom unit that produces Kalamkari and other materials. It has also secured a Geographical Indication (GI) mark for its product and established its own brand.

“I supply handloom materials worth around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 every month to the Telangana State Handloom Weavers Co-operative Society Limited (TGSCO),” she said. A regular attendee of SARAS Mela said the exhibition helped her reach out to customers and generate profits within a short span of time.

Sridevi also makes artificial jewellery, including necklaces – with stones sourced from Rajasthan, which she visits every year to source the raw materials.

Traditional products find buyers

Sanapa Subhadra, 48, from Mulugu district, sells ippa puvvu (Mahua flower) products, including laddus. Despite having no formal education, she ventured into business with the support of officials and a network of women’s self-help groups.

Manga Pasula, 40, exhibits Cheriyal masks and wall decorations made from wood and tamarind seeds. Her family is among about eight families that continue to practice the traditional art in Cheriyal, where it once flourished. The state government is promoting Cheriyal artefacts by displaying framed masks at official functions, she said.

Jyotsna Santra (32) from West Bengal’s Hooghly district recorded a collection of ₹1.20 lakh on Sunday. She creates framed artwork using hay and her exhibits depict figures associated with various religions.

“There is no religion to art,” she said, adding that she also takes orders for custom illustrations and portraits made from hay and has displayed bronze jewelry at her booth.

Published – 13 Oct 2026 19:45 IST