A woman performs with an previous treadmill displayed on the market in a makeshift market of previous electronics and family merchandise throughout “Bhanga Mela” (Fair of scrap articles) in South Bishnupur, West Bengal, India, January 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Thousands of villagers in West Bengal flock yearly to a winter e-waste fair, hoping to purchase used telephones, laptops and family electronic items for a discount.
Samar Halder, a 63-year-old farmer, purchased a used cellphone for ₹1,700 for his grandson from the “Bhanga Mela”, because the fair is named, in Mathurapur, about 65 km south of the State capital of Kolkata.
“He will use it to study,” Mr. Halder stated. “I just sold crops worth ₹1,750, came with it and bought this phone to give him as a gift … I hope it will work.”
India’s society is present process speedy digital transformation however the advantages are usually not equally shared. Access to know-how stays out of the attain of individuals in giant components of rural areas, the place a majority of the world’s most populous nations stay. The fair affords a variety of used devices and family items at far lowered prices to new ones and offers an avenue for deserted gadgets to be reused and recycled.
On common, the value of a brand new smartphone in India is sort of ₹25,000 up from ₹16,000-17,000 earlier than the pandemic, stated Navkendar Singh, analyst, IDC.
In comparability, used telephones on the fair price between ₹1,500 and ₹5,000. Mr.Singh expects the marketplace for used smartphones to solely get larger as new cellphone costs rise. Sellers on the fair often gather electronic devices and items from scrap sellers, restore and promote them.
“I cannot guarantee if all the phones you are seeing here will work, but the ones I guarantee will definitely work (and) cost more,” vendor Sirajul Laskar stated, including individuals even purchase ones he can not promise will work. It’s an opportunity many poor consumers appear prepared to take.
