At markets in Delhi, traders rue dip in festive sales

Calling it a multi-faceted problem that has been building up for years, Brij Gopal Khosla, vice-president of the Khan Market Traders’ Association, said: “Business is down 40-50% since last year. There are various reasons — sentiments are low, the economy is down. The online business is different, we do not consider it competition… Since GST, sales are going down and prices going up.”

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which has written to the government against e-commerce websites, also said sales were sluggish this year. Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT national general secretary, said, “Past experience shows that between Navratri and Diwali, business goes up by 30%. This year, it has declined by 30% for all businesses including mobiles, FMCG, shoes and fashion wear.”

“Diwali has no meaning for traders anymore. The major culprits are e-commerce websites, which offer discounts of up to 90%,” he added. CAIT, in a statement, claimed retail trade in India generates a yearly business of Rs 45 lakh crore, of which business of Rs 6 lakh crore alone is during the Diwali period.

S K Mittal, who runs a silver works at Chandni Chowk and is a member of the Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Association, said, “Every year, our business has been going down by 20% since demonetisation.” In Chandni Chowk, other factors such as redevelopment work have also affected business.
Rachit Gupta, who sells artificial jewellery in the area, said, “In the past 12 years, this has been the worst. Business has dropped by 40% from last year due to the slowdown.”