Curtains up for Grand Kerala Shopping Festival

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival offers a platform to widen the market products in the state. He was inaugurating the eighth edition of Grand Kerala Shopping Festival (GKSF), at the Nehru Stadium here on Monday.

 “The festival aims at bringing growth into all sectors of the state’s market. It has made great contributions to the economy, market and tourism industry through the past seven seasons,” he added. The CM honoured the students who created a mobile application for the festival at the function.

Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar chaired the function. GKSF Director K.M. Muhammed Anil, ADM T V Subhash, Mons Joseph MLA, District Panchayat president Nirmala Jimmy, Kottayam Municipal Chairman M.P. Santhosh Kumar, District Panchayat vice-president Philson Mathews and Kairali Chairman M.C. Kamaruddeen  spoke. Cultural programmes too were held.

The 45-day-long shopping carnival of the state will end in January 2015. The festival is being organised by the state government in association with the Tourism Department, which will offer 100 per cent VAT refund to tourists from outside the state, who visit and shop in Kerala, during the season. The budget of GKSF season 8 will be 40 crore.