Rinky, a street kid who buys flags and other fare from the wholesale market and sells it at a traffic junction in south Delhi's Moti Bagh area, said: 'Not many people are buying things from us. But I am sure that the sales will pick up on Aug 15 like they do every year.'

Commander K.V. Singh of the Flag Foundation of India, which promotes the national flag, however insisted that the demand for the national flag had not dipped. But he admitted that neither had it risen.

'The demand has been constant. We have supplied 1,300 flags in the last two weeks and there have been demands from Haryana, Bangalore and Mumbai, besides Delhi,' Singh told IANS.

'If there is a shift it is this that people now prefer flags in fabrics that are cheaper compared to khadi flags that are more expensive. Having said that I still can't say that the demand for the flag has risen,' he added.

However, many tourists are buying the Indian flag.

'Whether they buy it as a souvenir or otherwise, there are a lot of foreigners who have been buying the Indian flag. And why not? Our flag is so beautiful that it is worth being kept as a memoir,' said the official of Khadi Gram Udyog in Connaught Place, the very heart of the capital.