Article 370 And Dal Lake Commerce

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No, this blog is not getting into politics.

This is a post about a unique marketing opportunity created by Article 370 and my forecast on how it will be impacted by the recent annulment of the autonomous status hitherto accorded to Kashmir.

In 2015, I went on a holiday to Kashmir. My first stop was on a houseboat – aka shikhara – in Dal Lake in Srinagar.

I went through a unique experience in marketing on Dal Lake.

As my boatman rowed me down the lake, another boatman suddenly sidled up to my boat and started shouting “chai, chai, chai garam” (“tea, tea, hot tea”); another one offered to click my picture; another shikara was moored on the lake, selling shawls and handicraft items.

I’ve been on many lakes all over the world, but Dal Lake is the only one where buying and selling happens on a lake.

I called this Dal Lake Commerce at the time.

You must be wondering what this has to do with Article 370.

Well, a lot as it turns out.

According to Article 370, Indians from outside the state of Jammy & Kashmir (herewith “state foreigners”) are not allowed to own immoveable property in the state, so they can’t buy stores on the Srinagar mainland.

To work around that, they buy up shikaras and set shop in them. Since Shikaras are treated as moving objects, they can be owned by state-foreigners under #370.

Ergo, Dal Lake Commerce owes its existence to Article 370.

Later on during my trip, I noticed that all government buildings in Kashmir flew the Indian tricolor and Kashmir state flag side by side. I also heard from locals that Indian Constitution was not quite applicable in Kashmir. All because of #370. But I digress.

If Article 370 created Dal Lake Commerce, its recent repeal should mean the end of Dal Lake Commerce, right?

Not necessarily.

I envisage the following three scenarios going forward:

  1. Scenario 1: Existing state-foreigners will shut down their shikara stores and open up permanent stores on the mainland. Dal Lake Commerce will decline.
  2. Scenario 2: Existing state-foreigners with shikara stores will remain in Dal Lake but all new state-foreigners will open up permanent stores on the mainland. Dal Lake Commerce will remain flat.
  3. Scenario 3: Kashmir will attract a lot of new state-foreigner business people. Most of them will open shops on the mainland – because that’s like what they have done in their home states. But there will still be many who will buy shikaras and conduct business on Dal Lake – because that’s very cool and unlike what they have done in their home states. Dal Lake Commerce will grow.

The new market offered by Kashmir is huge. It won’t be fulfilled by state-foreigners with shikara stores on Dal Lake moving to the mainland. Therefore, I rule out the first scenario.

The second scenario is the most logical possibility.

But, as a Dal Lake Commerce fan, I pine for Scenario 3!

Let’s see what happens in a year or two.