Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday advised a broom seller from Madhya Pradesh on how he could increase his income.

Chhagan Lal and his wife, who make and sell brooms at Sanwer in Indore district, were among beneficiaries of the PM Street Vendors’ Aatmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) in the state with whom Modi had a virtual interaction. The husband and wife said they would make about 50-60 brooms in a day using date palm leaves and go out to sell them the next day.

To a question from the Prime Minister on the cost of making a broom, Chhagan Lal said they had to buy the “leaves, the piping, the wire and the nylon”.

Modi interrupted him to ask if Chhagan Lal had ever thought of asking buyers to return their old brooms if the “pipe” was intact and offered a discount of 25 or 50 paise on that, then use the same “pipe” to make a new broom. Would this save him money?

Modi: If you tell the customers beforehand to keep the old brooms, they will bring them back and buy new brooms. Using the pipe from the old broom will save you a lot of expense. Think about it The Telegraph

“Sir, the piping also gets spoilt with the broom,” Chhagan Lal ventured.

“It gets spoilt so fast?” Modi responded.

“Yes Sir, the piping gets spoilt,” the broom seller repeated. “For instance, if someone leaves the broom outside after using it, and another person treads on it….”

Modi cut in: “No, if you tell the customers beforehand to keep the old brooms, they will bring them back and buy new brooms. Using the pipe from the old broom will save you a lot of expense. Think about it.”

Chhagan Lal responded: “Theek hai.”

Modi, with a wide grin, asked: “You never thought of this?”

Chhagan Lal confessed that such a thought had never crossed his mind.