Covid takes toll on earthen diya business, sales down by 50%

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, November 9

Covid-19 has hit the business of earthen diyas (lamps) hard as the district recorded a drop of 50 per cent in their sale this festival season, as compared to last year, leaving potters worried.

Though many potters had made a large number of diyas and stocked these during the lockdown to fulfill the demand at the time of Diwali, they have not received the expected number of orders.

“More than 50 per cent of our customers from Maharashtra and Gujarat did not place orders this year as they were apprehensive about the sale of diyas following the pandemic. We had prepared diyas in a large quantity during the lockdown to ensure its instant supply on getting the orders during the season but the plan did not work,” said Inderpal Kohal, a potter.

Kohal claimed that he and his brother had supplied more than one crore diyas last year but only 50 lakh diyas have been supplied so far this year. “Many of our customers belong to Maharashtra and Gujarat and they used to buy diyas by taking loans. This time, they did not want to take the risk due to the prevailing uncertainty in the Covid-affected market,” he added.

Sadhu Ram, another potter, said not even a single order had been received from Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur and Surat cities this season, where he had been supplying lakhs of diyas every season for the past several years. “We are now finding it hard to even sell the ready stock. Only local traders are approaching us for diyas, that too in small quantities,” he rued.

Ram Lal, another potter in the city, said: “We used to earn good every season but this time, we are unable to even cover our input costs. Every year, the orders for diyas started coming in March and we used to send all deliveries a month before the festival season. But the pandemic has ruined our business this time,” he added.