Kongkon Bora, a Sivasagar based-businessman, started making high quality luxurious sofas six months back and has been selling these at much lower prices than the prevailing market price, drawing acclaim from the consumers.

He hired a team of expert workers from the metropolitan cities of India and started producing these sofas. “Starting the venture was not an easy job. Besides the huge investment required for the purpose, finding the expert workers was a tough challenge. I stepped into the venture after I found that luxurious sofas are being sold in the North East at an exorbitant price,” he said.

The luxurious imported sofas and those manufactured by reputed furniture companies of India are sold at a very high price at the different towns and cities of the North East. Bora said that the primary reason for the high price is the transportation of these goods, which adds a great deal to the cost. “Add to this, damage during transportation and the entry taxes levied by the sales tax department, the prices of these sofas get doubled by the time they enter the furniture showrooms in the North East,” he said.

Starting his furniture business about four years back with a Rs.2.5 lakhs PMEGP loan, Bora forayed into luxurious sofas six months back and has undertaken a series of promotional measures to establish his Komfort range of luxurious sofas.

Bora has capitalised on these factors and has been able to sell his sofas at a lower price than those brought from outside the North East. He claims that the sofas manufactured by him are at par with those brought from outside the North East in terms of both quality and design, yet his sofas are affordable. “I am at an advantage as raw materials required for manufacturing sofas are easily available here. I have overcome the lack of expert and experienced workers, the only retarding factor to produce such sofas in the North East,” he said.

Bora claims that the initiative was the first one undertaken anywhere in the North East. “Normal sofas are being produced in the North East for some time now. Despite the availability of quality raw materials, producing high-quality luxurious sofas has not been undertaken anywhere in the North East for the sole factor of non-availability of skilled workers,” he said.

Starting his furniture business about four years back with a Rs 2.5 lakhs PMEGP loan, Bora forayed into luxurious sofas six months back and has undertaken a series of promotional measures to establish his Komfort range of luxurious sofas. “I started my showroom Nilima Furniture in 2009 and gradually expanded to another showroom at Sivasagar in January this year. I have already repaid the loan sanctioned by the Sibsagar branch of Canara Bank under the PMEGP scheme,” he added.

The designs of his sofas have been inspired from the day-to-day needs of the consumers of the North East. Described as an exercise in subtleness, the collection’s colour palette is natural and blends different tones of colour. Of the collection, Bora says, “We accepted with enthusiasm the challenge of interpreting in furnishing the exclusivity and charm of the North East. In the Komfort collection, there co-exists a passion for detail, care of materials and a style that anticipates the trends while remaining true to the codes of elegance and tradition.”

Ripunjoy Das