Hours before dawn, Krishnarajendra Market (K.R. Market) is bustling. Seethamma, who travels all the way from Doddaballapur every day, is seen busy dealing with her customers over her piles of sevantige (chrysanthemum), mallige (jasmine), and chendu hoovu (marigold), while the street vendors who encircle her try to bargain.
With the festival of Ugadi round the corner, all 85 flower stalls at the Hoovina Mandi inside K.R. Market are doing brisk business, selling flowers at much higher rates that usual. “It is that time of year when fresh flowers start becoming important to people with Ugadi, followed by the Bengaluru Karaga in April,” said S. Srinivas of SLV stall, a wholesale flower vendor and member of the City Market Flower Vendors’ Association.
Sevantige, according to Mr. Srinivas, comes in white and yellow, and the yellow one has a special variety called ‘Aishwarya’ that has risen to ₹500 a kg, with a mola or hand measure being sold at ₹80. It was sold at ₹350 and ₹40 (for a mola ) till last weekend. “Flower rates have increased by 40%, with prices of sevantige , mallige and kanakambara rising by 50%. Only a few [flowers] are seasonal, and from Ugadi onwards the rates will double too as the Karaga is coming,” Mr. Srinivas says.
The ‘Aishwarya’ sevantige comes from the outskirts of Tumakuru and Ramanagaram. The white variety costs ₹300 — an increase of 30%. Kanakambara costs ₹600 a kg, and ₹60 a mola, while ‘ Ambur’ jasmine from Timmapura Dam Road near Krishnagiri now costs ₹480 a kg. The sanna (small) mallige is priced ₹400 a kg while marigold is being sold for ₹300 a kg, up from ₹150 last week.
“There are eight coloured roses and we have started selling them for between ₹180 and ₹200 a kg. This will increase further as Karaga nears. At the City Market, we sell nearly 20 tonnes of jasmine every day, and during the nine days of Karaga, sale increases considerably as the stock we receive doubles,” says Manjunatha, a dealer and retailer at Jayanagar.
There are over 250 flower-growing companies and firms that contract farmers to grow flowers according to market demand and directly trade with retailers and vendors, according to the Flower Market Association. The State Horticulture Department, though, says it does not have the exact figure for the daily turnover at K.R. flower market.
