Double whammy for jewellery biz in Rohtak, 'loss of Rs 75 crore' during lockdown

Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, June 23

Jewellers in Haryana’s Rohtak district are facing a double whammy of manpower shortage and a rise in prices of raw materials. As a result, the manufacturing cost has increased, making it difficult for jewellers to fulfil orders booked before the lockdown at reduced prices.

Hemant Bakshi, state coordinator, Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association, said: “More than 2,000 workers are engaged in the jewellery business in the district. A majority of them belongs to West Bengal and Maharashtra. Only 30 per cent of them have returned to Rohtak.”

A chain of workers is required to manufacture ornaments. Local workers melt, polish and cut the metal, while migrant workers manufacture jewellery items.

“As manufacturing units in Rajkot, Surat, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Delhi are yet to resume operations, jewellers are not getting ready-made jewellery from there to meet the demand,” Bakshi said, adding “Rohtak district has around 1,000 jewellery shops which suffered a loss of Rs 75 crore during the lockdown”.

He had booked an order for gold ornaments at Rs 43,800 per ‘tola’ before the lockdown, but now the prices have shot up to Rs 48,000 per ‘tola’.

Ajay Malhotra, a local jeweller, said the prices increased by more than 10 per cent after the lockdown.

“A majority of jewellers get raw materials from Rajkot (Gujarat) and Mumbai (Maharashtra), but both cities have been hit hard by the pandemic. Hence, those having limited stock of raw material are selling it at higher prices,” he added.

Sandeep Sehgal, another jeweller, said he had taken advances from customers, hence he could not cancel the orders.

“I have no other option, but to suffer losses,” he said with a shrug of resignation.