Sale of cars, utensils goes up on Dhanteras

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 17

The sale of cars and utensils witnessed an increase on Dhanteras as compared to other days. All shops, particularly of utensils, jewellery and electronic home appliances, were decked up with a range of decorative items.

Hyundai Showroom in the city today sold 23 cars. Last year, the showroom also sold almost the same number of cars. The Tara Maruti showroom sold close to 30 cars in Bathinda and Mansa districts. Other car agencies also did a good business on Dhanteras.

Ram Kishan, general manager of Hyundai Showroom, said while the overall sales had been down, the situation had improved a little due to Dhanteras. Pamil Kumar Sharma, sales manager of Tara Automobile, said by 6 pm, as many as 16 cars were sold and another 10 to 15 cars were expected to be sold by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, markets had transformed themselves into a colourful display of grand extravaganza. The sale of utensils picked up while the sale of jewellery remained low as compared to the last year.

Kartar Singh Jaura, president of the Punjab Swarankar Sangh, said the sale had increased as compared to the past few days but remained low this year. He said it was below the expectations of traders.

He said the main reason behind the dip was the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“A shortage of money in the market has affected the business. The price of 22 carat gold was recorded at 29,900 and that of 24 carat gold was recorded at 30, 800,”he said. Jaura added that there was an overall slump in the market and the trade was affected by it.

Rakesh Kumar, a trader dealing in utensils, said practically, there was a rise in the sale as compared to routine days, but it was not a bumper sale as per the expectation on the occasion of Dhanteras.

Rakesh said a large number of their customers had been taken away by internet shopping companies. Traders are of the view that shoppers throng the markets during Karwa Chauth, but the same didn’t convert into a brisk business.

“This year, the trade is down by almost 50 to 60 per cent. While the imposition of the GST is to be blamed for the slump in the business, the mall culture is also slowly killing the retail markets in the city. More than half of the customers of local markets have started going to malls or surfing internet for shopping. This is not a favourable trend for the retailers in the main markets,” said Ramjiwan Goyal, general provision merchant.

Kartar Singh Jaura said as opposed to the general notion that the sale of gold and silver would pick up during the festive season, the demand for jewellery had gone down considerably.

“Earlier, there used to be rush in the markets to buy ornaments and albeit for small articles in the festive season. That enthusiasm has died down over the years,” he added.

The craze for taking the delivery of a new vehicle on the day of Dhanteras was also slowly phasing out.

Naveen Singh, general manager at an auto agency, said earlier, Dhanteras was considered an auspicious moment to buy a new vehicle. “The trend of booking vehicles in advance and taking the delivery on Dhanteras has diminished. The slump in the market has affected the sales of automobiles as well. Since not much is changing hands in the markets, the sale of automobiles has also dipped,” he said.