The Diwali season matched with the boycott of Chinese goods has proven to be astonishingly beneficial for the traders of India as a massive rise was recorded in the sales.
In an announcement, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that traders around the nation had a good business this Diwali despite the covid situation by selling products worth Rs.72,000 crore. This is over 10.8% percent more than what was witnessed last year.
The increase in sales and profits have also come due to the self-boycott of China-made goods taken up by many citizens.
The trader’s body stands for nearly 7 crore Indian traders along with 40,000 trading associations. It is the top organization defending the traders and small businesses of the country, giving voice to their woes. It also gave an indication of the good prospects lying infront of small business owners and local traders in the vocal for local strategy.
The data presented during the announcement was an amalgamation of reports garnered from the sales of 20 cities, that included metropolitan cities like Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jammu, Jaipur, Nagpur and others.
However, firecracker sellers and other small traders had to suffer losses of net Rs.10,000 crore this year as the country’s several states and cities banned the use of firecrackers this Diwali to suppress the growing problem of air pollution in India. In Delhi, where the issue persists since long, it was especially important to ban them as the air has become so polluted that people aren’t able to breathe properly even after the utilization of air purifiers. While many, who can afford, are shifting cities, most are forced to stay back due to lack of finances and other problems.
Firecracker bans this year were put in states like West Bengal, Odisha, Sikkim, Rajasthan and few others.
Other goods, though, saw a sharp increase in demand and sale. These included toys, electronics, utensils, FMCG products, gift items, home furnishing products, sweets, decoration items, clothes and apparel, footwear, confectionery and bakery items. Apart from these, items used extensively during the special pooja of the Diwali day like handicraft products and clay diyas were sold majorly, according to the sales data.
Nevertheless, the Diwali season sale still can’t cover the horrendous condition of the economy. India is likely to witness a technical recession this year due to the pandemic’s hazardous effects. If this does happen, it will be the first since India’s independence.
The sinking of Indian economy has been forecasted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The central bank said that there was a contraction of 8.6% during the third quarter of 2020 while the second quarter had recorded an even worse contraction with 23.9%. This was also due to the fact that there was a nation-wide lockdown during the period of April-June, which led to all-time low sales.
The RBI, however, exclaimed a hope of the situation overturning only if the growth registered during September and October could be maintained till the end of December 2020.
Meanwhile, the traders’ body, CAIT, is probably going to launch its own e-commerce platform called BharatEMarket where it is expecting to bring forth all its traders online to gain more audience and customers.
The portal is likely to be started in alliance with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). According to sources, it will be promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sStartup India and Invest India along with All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation and small business lender Avana Capital.
