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Hyderabad: Stall owners of Hyderabad’s biggest exhibition, known popularly as Numaish, are reluctant to come back next year despite its glitz and glamour, but it’s not the city folks’ bargaining that’s driving them away.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Hyderabadis flock to the All-India Industrial Exhibition in Nampally for the promise of a day full of shopping, eating and merrymaking. However, for some people who put up a stall, it’s a different experience.
Among the heaps of shops selling Kashmiri and Lucknowi kurtis, dry fruits and bed sheets lies a troubling practice of black marketing and exorbitant rent prices, making sellers second-guess their investments at Hyderabad’s beloved exhibition.
“I have been coming here for the past 16 years, but I don’t plan to come back next year,” said a dry fruit stall owner, who did not want to be named, claiming that he was charged Rs 1 lakh for setting up his stall. “I remember paying Rs 30,000 in 2018, and the price has tripled in the span of just a few years,” he said.
Almost all stall owners Siasat.com spoke to had one common thing to say: The price to set up the stall has gone up “drastically.” Various stall owners said that rent was hiked up a staggering Rs 25,000 from last year alone.
That’s not all, stall owners have also alleged that a group of “brokers who are in cahoots with the exhibition management” buy stall spaces before anyone else to sell them at higher prices later. These are mostly stalls that are located in “prime locations” which see the most footfall, they said.
The location also reportedly attracts “prime fees,” a concept that was introduced in 2015, according to a bedsheet seller.
“What they do is that they see which stall is generating the most income, and then give them the ‘prime’ stall location. We don’t get to decide where our stalls are put up. And if you do not have a stall, then you buy it through the brokers,” a Kashmiri dry fruits seller, who wished to remain anonymous, explained.
He claimed that this practise is in an endless cycle where stall owners are desperate for a stall, while the brokers are ready to make deals at a much higher price, leading the businesspeople to spend massive amounts in setting up their shop.
Add to this the electricity charges, which they themselves have to pay, and that’s an additional Rs 20,000 or more to their overall expenses. People like Kashmiri sellers or anyone who comes from far away also have to think of boarding and lodging expenses for additional sales team members they bring through the course of the 45-day Numaish.
Hawkers sitting outside the exhibition are also making a few feel threatened.
“I have paid Rs 1 lakh to get a space here, but my business is suffering due to the people who sell the same items outside,” said a saree shop owner, who originally hails from Rajasthan.
“My customers tell me the same sarees are being sold at Rs 100 cheaper outside. This is not just my problem; people selling bags and jewellery here have the same complaint. Police should remove the hawkers from outside,” she said.
Handling the stall with her husband, she said, “Every single shop owner is upset since customers use the ‘but they sell it much cheaper outside’ card,” leaving the exhibition stall owners to eventually lower the prices and not make a profit.
“My father-in-law has been coming here for 60 years, and although this is the first time I’ve visited Numaish, I am upset and tired. We have only suffered losses this year,” she added.
Most stall owners also claimed that they do not make any real profit by setting up shop, and are only able to break even. Many said that most of the time, coming to Numaish means a 50 per cent chance of profit and 50 per cent loss.
A Lucknowi clothes shop owner, who is the third generation in his family to be doing business at Numaish for the past 60 years, said he only comes back for his long-time customer base.
“Our regular customers buy in bulk and easily spend around Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 in one go,” he said. Like him, there were other sellers who have made Numaish a base for several decades, confidently relying on bulk orders or supplying to boutiques in the city.
Looking at the business side of it, a Bandhani seller, who has been setting up a shop in the exhibition for 40 years, said suffering a loss is just part of the business and that competition has always been a constant. When asked if he would be coming back next year, he pointed out that there are many factors to consider before a businessperson makes a decision like that.
“Profit and loss are a part of business, as is competition. There are many things a businessman gauges before setting up shop. My stall has been set up in a ‘non-prime’ area this year, but if I have a feeling that Numaish will attract customers who have much to spend, depending on the political and economic state of the city, I might buy a prime space that year,” the Bandhani seller said.
Meanwhile, newcomers have adapted to the changing times to make sure they don’t regret their venture. A few Kashmiri stall owners collaborated with YouTubers and social media influencers to spike popularity, arranging giveaways, lotteries and discounts if one goes with a screenshot of a reel.
When asked if giving things out for cheaper or for free means they incur any loss, they said the crowd that comes along after seeing the videos makes it worth it.
“Ye hum dil se dete hai (We give this with our heart),” they said.
Further explaining the process, the Kashmiri merchant said, “This is not for our advantage. It is a business tactic. And although there is not a lot of profit in this method, we do get by. Naya naya generation, nayi nayi soch (New generation, new thinking).”
There are other stall owners who set up shop at the exhibition for a year or two, but after making losses, they choose not to return.
“We have seen people who come for a year or two and then give up. We, too, will decide if we come back next year, depending on our situation,” a different Kashmiri stall owner said.
As the stall owners grapple with the ups and downs of doing business at the Numaish, customers and visitors keep the exhibition grounds busy, proving that for some, it’s still the glittering, fun promise it is made out to be.
On the other hand, the exhibition management, while denying their involvement in black marketing, acknowledges that it is a practise that has plagued Numaish for many years.
“We are aware that there are some third parties that are involved in black marketing. Earlier, all the stalls were sold at a uniform price, but since the issue came to our notice, we have started applying a prime fee on some stalls to discourage the practise,” the secretary of the exhibition, BN Rajeshwar, told Siasat.com
.“We are increasing the prices ourselves so that it becomes difficult for any third party to make illegal profit,” he explained.
The secretary also said that the management carries out their own audit to see if the people who bought the stall are the same ones operating it. “We have even taken action against people who were found indulging in black marketing. If any stall owners have bought their spaces at higher prices, they can approach us, and we assure that action will be taken against those responsible,” he said.
When asked if any action would be taken against hawkers selling goods outside the Numaish, Rajeshwar said that the issue is outside their purview.
(Reporting by Saleha Fatima and Khadija Irfan Rahim)
This post was last modified on January 27, 2026 9:13 pm