Shopkeepers stare at loss,pray for rain

“Sometimes we don’t even sell one umbrella,which is a huge depression compared to last year’s successful sale,” say small hawkers,who are the worst hit. Tauseef from Fashion Street,who has a stall for raincoats says, “Umbrellas are bought even in summer. But if it does not rain,nobody buys raincoats. At the most,we get 5 to 6 buyers on a daily basis which increases only if it rains that particular day.”

“This is just the beginning but it seems that we won’t be able to sell the majority of our stocks and will have to store it for the next year,” he adds.

The streets of Tulsi Baug and Laxmi road in Pune that include various stores that accommodate monsoon necessities have also been affected due to this situation. “The poor rainfall this year has affected our business,” says the owner of the store,Bharmal Brothers. Business has gone down by 25 percent as compared to last year. “We manage to sell only 2,000 umbrellas and raincoats per week,which is nothing compared to last year,” says Bharmal.

Vendors selling only rainwear have been badly hit. Those who sell other goods alongside are better off.

“The poor rainfall has affected our business greatly but not as much as the stores exclusively selling rainwear,as we sell other wares too,” says the owner of Bina Novelties on Laxmi Road. The vendors are confident of their business getting a boost as soon as it showers regularly.

Our business has gone down by 50 per cent as compared to last year. Even now our shop gets approximately 12 visitors a day,” says Bina Novelties.

Not having seen such a slump in the past 5 years,sellers of umbrellas are now lowering their prices when the occasional customer arrives. Loan based enterprises have the interest to contend with and have much to lose if the business does not pick up in the next two months.