Engineer takes traditional Santali clothing from Odisha to the world; clocks Rs3 lakh monthly

By the time Dhyanchand Soren completed his mechanical engineering in 2021, COVID-19 had affected the job market. Jobs were few, and seekers were many. Instead of wasting his time looking for employment, Dhyanchand, who belongs to the Santali tribal community, decided to become an entrepreneur.

Santals (also Santhals) are the third-largest tribal community in India, with a population of nearly 6.5 million. President Droupadi Murmu belongs to the Santali community.

Traditionally known for agriculture, hunting, and gathering, the Santals are now present in many professions across India. The rise of modern Santali music, videos, and films is helping to spread their language and culture globally.

“I saw a rising demand for traditional Santali clothes while the supply was limited. Not only Santals, but others also wanted to wear Santali sarees and other garments like ‘kacha’ and ‘gamcha’ due to their colours, patterns and eco-friendly nature,” Dhyanchand tells 30Stades.

The kacha is a white, fine cotton dhoti, worn unstitched by Santali men. The gamcha is a cotton towel with simple patterns used as a head covering or draped over the shoulder. Dhyanchand procured them from weavers for sale across India through e-commerce firms.

Also Read: How a Santhali folk singer & orphans turned barren land into a forest at Ajodhya hills

From weavers to customers

While he understood the market, funds were a constraint. Moreover, his father Sunaram Soren, a retired post peon, opposed his idea of selling clothes after engineering. 

“I started from my native village Rangiam by procuring Santali sarees, kacha and gamcha from weavers to sell them online and named my venture ‘Upal Mart’. Initially, it clocked a weekly turnover of only Rs 5000,” says Dhyanchand, who completed his engineering from the Dhaneswar Rath Institute of Engineering and Management Studies (now DREIMS University).

Also Read: Fagun: India's only Santhali newspaper giving a fresh lease of life to tribal language and culture 

While selling tribal clothing online, he realised that these marketplaces charged exorbitant commissions, increasing the selling price by 30 to 40 percent. 

“I felt it was unfair to customers who purchased at high rates. After six months, I decided to market clothes to the buyers directly and snapped ties with e-commerce companies,” the tribal entrepreneur says.

Today, Upal Mart’s sales are growing at around 30 percent annually. “The weekly turnover is around Rs 70,000 (around Rs 2.8 lakh monthly). I plan to increase it to Rs 4 lakh monthly in one year,” he adds.

Upal Market’s customers are from Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Santals live mostly in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam and Tripura.

How Upal Mart contemporised traditional Santali clothing

The real game changer that increased sales beginning in 2023 was the introduction of blazers and jackets for men and ready-to-wear kachas for boys. 

Also Read: How this Odisha woman set up a successful home business of upcycled gifts 

He also introduced sarees for girls in the three-to-eight-year age group. He sells the garments under the brand name of ‘Upal’, a Santali word which means lotus in English. They feature traditional Santali designs in contemporary forms. 

Traditional Santali sarees are thick, coarse and short in length and breadth. However, Upal Mart created a modern six-yard version -- softer, thinner and lighter. 

It sells both types of sarees, bought by tribals and non-tribals. In terms of design and style, Upal offers five varieties of sarees called 'Phuta' in Santali. Traditional sarees like Sindoor Lugli and Khanda Lugli sell mostly on marriage and puja occasions. Sales increase between January and March as most festive occasions of the Santali community are organised during this time.

Upal sells over 14 varieties of kacha, four varieties of gamcha, and five designs of ready-to-wear garments for children. 

Working with weavers

Upal also offers an exclusive ‘Bapla Collection’ (wedding wear) and ‘couple combo’. It works with four weavers in Chandanpur under Bangriposi block of Mayurbhanj to make cotton sarees and another six weavers in Gopalpur in Jajpur district to make tassar and semi-tassar sarees. It works with two tailors for blazers and jackets.

Also Read: Tribal women turn entrepreneurs with Tasar silk farming

Padmalochan Behera, a weaver in Chandanpur under Bangriposi block, says, “We weave cotton sarees, dhotis, kacha, gamcha and ready-to-wear outfits for children according to the designs given by Dhyanchand Babu. Our motifs are inspired by nature like leaves, birds, flowers, etc. We also make geometrical designs.”

Padmalochan says they get paid on a per-piece basis, depending on the cloth and pattern of the fabric.

The price of cotton sarees ranges between Rs 200 and Rs 3,500, semi-tassar sarees between Rs 300 and Rs 2000, and tassar sarees between Rs 4,500 and Rs 12,500.

“We sell blazers and jackets at Rs 600 to Rs 2,500, while the selling price of kacha is between Rs 100 and Rs 3,500 and that of gamcha is between Rs 50 and Rs 450. Similarly, we sell ready-to-wear kids’ garments at Rs 200 to Rs 800,” says Dhyanchand.

Exhibitions and expansion

In 2023, Dhyanchand also began participating in exhibitions like the Adivasi Mela organised in Bhubaneswar by the Odisha Government, Odisha Food and Craft Mela organised in Hyderabad by Swabhimani Odia Parivar and ‘Johar Haat’ organised in Jamshedpur by Tata Steel Foundation.

“We attend 11 such exhibitions every year where we not only sell our tribal textile products, but also some other tribal crafts, including the statue of Guru Gonke Raghunath Murmu (who invented Santali script Ol Chiki) and Ol Chiki Frame," he says.

"We make more than 50 percent of our annual sales during these exhibitions,” Dhyanchand says.

Dhyanchand now has two outlets—one in Baripada and the other in Udala, the Kaptipada subdivisional headquarters. “I get good business online, built largely through our efforts on social media. However, I don’t participate in fashion shows as they cost money. Social media and word of mouth publicity are enough to bring in a steady and sure upturn in online and offline business,” he says.

Deepak Kumar Beshra, a producer and director of Santali films and the founder-chairman of Santali Art and Film Foundation, Baripada, says, “We regularly buy from Upal Mart for their good quality and reasonable pricing.”

Sashmita Mishra, a school teacher in Bhubaneswar, echoes a similar view. “Impressed with their quality and colour combination, I purchased three tussar sarees of ‘Upal Mart’ at Adivasi Mela-2025 organised in Bhubaneswar,” she says.

“We plan to grant a franchise to a few outfits in neighbouring Jharkhand and West Bengal due to rising demand. However, we have not yet finalised. We are evaluating setting up franchisees and opening our outlets in the two states gradually,” says Dhyanchand.

(Niroj Ranjan Misra is a Cuttack-based freelance writer. He writes on rural and tribal life, social issues, art and culture, and sports.)

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