Diwali 2021 brought broad smiles to the faces of business owners in Surat. The business in the textile, electronics, and jewellery sectors started to speed up at least two months before Diwali. According to Janak Dave, News18 Bureau Chief, in two months, the textile sector saw sales up to 13,000 crores. On the other hand, the jewellery sector saw sales figures close to 500 crores and the electronics sector saw sales up to 350 crores.
सूरत के कारोबारियों के लिए यह दीवाली बंपर रही।महज 2 महीने में,
— Janak Dave (@dave_janak) November 8, 2021
टेक्सटाइल- 13000 करोड़,
ज्वेलरी- 500 करोड़,
इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स -350 करोड़ का व्यापार हुआ।#GST से पहले हो रहे कारोबार से भी काफी ज्यादा है जिसने व्यापारियों के चेहरे पर अलग सी खुशी लौटाई है।
अभी शादियों की सीजन बाकी है।
Reportedly, this year sales were better than the time prior to GST was enacted. According to a report in ANI, Surat jewellery stores saw a surge in the number of buyers close to the festival. As Covid-19 cases were down and gold prices were down as well, the shoppers bought gold not only as an investment but also as gifts for Diwali and the upcoming wedding season.
A report in the Indian Express noted that the sales crossed Rs. 100 crores on Dhanteras in the diamond-studded gold jewellery sector along with normal gold and silver jewellery. Salim Daginawala, president, Surat Jewellers Association, said, “In 2019, the sales were close to Rs 80 crore and was nearly Rs 60 crore last year. This year, the sales have boomed to over Rs 100 crore in the city. This shows that those who had not made purchases in 2020 have bought this year. Since the past few months, there has been a boom in all sectors of industries, and at last, our industry has also benefitted.”
Speaking to OpIndia about the sentiment of people during the festive season, Manoj Agarwal, chairman of Federation Of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA), said that this year was much better than previous years. He said, “We are extremely happy with the business that we are getting this year. I cannot confirm the numbers at the moment, but I can assure the sector had not seen such spike in the business since 2016.”
Echoing Agarwal’s statement, Rohan Shah, senior representative, Surat jewellery Manufacturers’ Association, said, “The business was more than we expected. Everyone was delighted to see that people were coming out to buy jewellery during festival season.”
Businesses across the country boomed during Diwali
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a body of 70 million traders across the country, reported Rs 1.25 trillion worth of business during Diwali. Reports suggest that it has been ten years since such trade figures were reported by CAIT during festival season. Such massive scale of shopping contributed to ending the economic slowdown that the industry was suffering from the past two years following the Pandemic.
