Paalaguttapalle cloth bags, a rage in hyderabad city

Secunderabad: Revathi Balakrishnan, a regular visitor to Our Sacred Space, picked up cloth bags made in a small village Paalaguttapalle in Andhra Pradesh a few weeks ago and now her friends and relatives make it a point to visit the centre every Sunday to buy more.

The bags come in different sizes to suit all occasions. There is a bag for everyone, including sling bags for youngsters says Aparna, the brainchild of Paalaguttapalle bags. The idea of making these bags came when Rayalaseema was struck with a severe drought in 2015 and the women of Paalaguttapalle were left with no jobs and food. Aparna Krishnan, a software engineer, encouraged village women to sew bags and marketed them. A store in Hyderabad ordered 100 bags and since then there has been no looking back.

Aparna opened a Facebook page for them called 'Paalaguttapalle Bags – Dalitwada' through which more people gave orders for cloth bags. Today, the women are earning about Rs 5,000-6,000 each a month. The highest amount of sales that they have done is of Rs 68,000.

What is interesting is that the Paalaguttapalle bags have made a name and are popular in the city. Now they are available at select stores and also at cultural centres such as Our Sacred Space.