A survey report by OLX , the on line portal for sale of domestic used goods reveals that approximately Rs 5100 crores [about 828 million US dollars] worth used or unwanted goods are locked up in Indian homes . These are in many forms like furniture,electronic goods,books , kitchen items,clothes,travel items , toys and many such items.
Even though I have not yet given my stock and its value to OLX or any other such sites [ I may do so soon] , I must confess that I have quite a lot of such stuff with us yet to be sorted and disposed off. I have collected a lot of stuff right from my Army Days including mementos, trophies, key publications especially special issues and a lot of books – both fiction and non -fiction. One thing I regularly started doing is to give away a few items of utility during the annual “Joy of Giving ” week to charity. These are mainly clothes , old magazines , newspapers etc.
The CEO of OLX.in Amarjit Batra calls these assets “Brown Money” . According to him the potential of the used goods economy is compelling . In fact, what has surfaced is only the tip of the iceberg and we will need many OLX type portals to mine these assets and convert them in to cash for those who are willing to part with it.