Grand Kerala Shopping Festival Starts in December

20 October 2013
Thiruvananthapuram

The seventh season of the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival (GKSF) is all set for a transformation on a wide scale and create a new pattern, boosting the commerce and tourism sectors of the state in the future.

With an assurance of close association offered by the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) this time, registration of shops and establishments evincing interest for participation has gone up to one lakh, from the mere 7,000 in the sixth season.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will set the GKSF Season 7 into motion in Kozhikode on December 1. Announcing the fest and details, Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar said that the canvas of the event was undergoing a massive change with a prize kitty comprising Rs 11-crore worth of gold and a mega draw for giving cash prizes totalling Rs 4 crore. The first prize winner will get Rs 1 crore and 15 second prize winners will take Rs 10 lakh each.

The third prize of Rs 5 lakh each will be given to 20 coupon winners and fourth prizes of Rs 1 lakh each will be presented to 50 winners, he said.

The Minister said that gold coins in one, two, four and eight grams – weighing a total 27,532 grams – will be given to 6,893 winners in draws of coupons, to be held in the 14 districts in all the six weeks of the fest.

One of the highlights of the upcoming season of GKSF is that shop owners will also get consolation prizes from coupons won by customers – in a format of the state lotteries – in the prize range of Rs 1 lakh-Rs 5,000. Anil Kumar said that a conscious effort was being made to convert the 45-day GKSF programme into a highly popular and attractive event from this season.

The State Government had sanctioned Rs 25 crore each in the past seasons for promotion of GKSF. “This year, the budgetary allocation was only Rs 15 crore. Next year,it will be only Rs 10 crore and it will be brought down further in the years ahead.

Source – http://newindianexpress.com

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