Punjab Bizman hears cash registers ring in vuvuzela manufacture
Punjab Bizman hears cash registers ring in vuvuzela manufactureIf you happen to hear the sound of the vuvuzela as you watch the Commonwealth Games on TV, chances are the South African horn drowning out all other noise is a 'Made in Punjab' product.
The monotone instrument and other high-selling sports merchandise are making their way from Punjab to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Delhi, thanks to entrepreneur Manpreet Singh Walia.
The 32-year-old from Mohali, a town 10 km from Chandigarh, got the idea of selling vuvuzelas for the CWG after a friend brought him one from South Africa.
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Sports Minister M S Gill blows a vuvuzela as Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi looks on at the Games Village in New DelhiThe vuvuzela had, after all, made its presence felt at the FIFA World Cup there. "It was then that the idea of having vuvuzelas for sporting events in India struck me.
I have manufactured and provided nearly 10,000 vuvuzelas to companies selling CWG merchandise," he said.
The vuvuzelas made by Manpreet's Hi-Tech Rubber Industries are sold for Rs 250 a piece and come in blue, green, red, yellow and white colours.
Nearly two crore vuvuzelas were sold during the World Cup in June-July. Over 90 per cent of these were Chinese-made. Manpreet says his are better quality, made with food grade plastic.
The vuvuzelas have a sticker of CWG mascot Shera and another sticker of the 2010-CWG emblem. After the CWG, he intends to put the Indian flag on the vuvuzelas.
