Gwalior, India, August 2026 : Raksha Bandhan falls on Friday, 28 August this year, nearly three weeks later than last year, because the Hindu lunar calendar carried an extra month. iTokri.com, India's largest curated direct-to-consumer platform for handmade textiles and handicrafts, enters the longer window with the largest Rakhi range in its history: more than 2,300 handmade rakhis in stock as of this week, made in small batches by more than 20 named artisan groups and clusters across India, with list prices from Rs 180 for a plantable seed rakhi to about Rs 1,350 for premium copper-enamel and Meenakari sets.
Every rakhi on the platform is sold by the name of its craft: Patwa threadwork from Rajasthan, Dokra brass from Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, Jaipur blue pottery beads, Bishnupur handpainted fabric, chikankari and tribal hand embroidery, crochet, beadwork, bamboo, upcycled handloom weave, and plantable seed rakhis that go into the soil after the festival. Every product page names the group that made it, among them Samoolam, Ekibeki, Miharu, Khamir, Kamli, Neeli Titlee and Vishnu Kumar Patwa.
The centre of the 2026 range is a bet the company first tested last year: reusable rakhis that live on after the festival, a felt toy a child keeps, a Dokra brass or copper-enamel keepsake, pieces that can be turned into a keychain or fridge magnet, and potlis and wooden doll boxes built for a second life. The 2025 trial collection sold well, so 2026 scaled it into the main range. In-stock examples include a Reusable Tribal Dokra Brass Rakhi with a Banaras wood doll box by Miharu at Rs 590, a Reusable Copper Enamel Rakhi with potli by Ekibeki at Rs 850 to Rs 1,350, a Reusable Crochet Kids Rakhi by Samoolam at Rs 490, and a Patwa Threadwork Blue Pottery Beads Rakhi with potli by Vishnu Kumar Patwa at Rs 390.
"The Rakhi market is huge and we are a small player in it, and that is fine, because nobody assembles what we assemble. This is India's largest curation of handmade rakhis: small batches from artisan groups across the country, sold by the name of the craft," said Nitin Pamnani, co-founder, iTokri.com. "On iTokri you do not buy a generic designer rakhi. You buy a Patwa threadwork rakhi or a Dokra brass rakhi, and the group that made it is named right on the page. The artisan is the designer."
Rakhi is iTokri's oldest proven seasonal engine. The company has run the window every year since 2019 and has repeated it as a win since 2022; the range has grown roughly five to seven times over from those early years. August is now iTokri's single biggest month of the year by order volume, and the Rakhi window brought the platform more than 5,000 first-time customers in August 2024 alone. International orders also peak in August, with the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada the platform's largest overseas Rakhi markets. The whole season runs, as everything at iTokri has since 2012, without a single price cut.
"A rakhi should not become waste on the second day of September. Last year we tried a small reusable collection and it took off, so this year the biggest share of the new range is built to be kept: a felt toy a child holds on to, a brass or copper-enamel keepsake, potlis and little wooden boxes that get a second life," Pamnani added. "Raksha Bandhan is late this year, on 28 August. Use the extra weeks to send something that lasts."
The collection is live at itokri.com/collections/send-rakhi. The company advises ordering by around 22 August within India and by around 15 August for the UAE, Singapore and Malaysia; the advised date for the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia has just passed, so buyers there should order immediately and check the tracked-delivery estimate at checkout. Every order ships from Gwalior with a handwritten note.
About iTokri.com
iTokri.com is India's largest curated D2C platform for authentic handmade textiles and handicrafts. Founded in 2012 by Nitin and Jia Pamnani in Gwalior, the platform works directly with 10,000+ artisan-creators across 500+ craft clusters, listing 100,000+ products spanning handwoven fabrics, block-printed textiles, sarees, dupattas, stoles, home textiles, and craft supplies. iTokri ships to 125+ countries and adds 500+ new products daily. The artisan is the designer.
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