Lacklustre Dhanteras for Chandigarh jewellers

CHANDIGARH: With the sales figure dipping 50% from last year, it was a disappointing Dhanteras indeed for local jewellers. Their associations pegs the losses as running into "crores or rupees". The price 10-gram gold (22 karat) was Rs 30,600, highest in a few years.

In 2012, the gold price had crossed Rs 30,000 mark and it was Rs 30,700 in 2012.

Chandigarh jewellers

association president Vinod Talwar said: "As expected, the Dhanteras sales were very low even this time. The festival is time when people purchase maximum jewellery, since that is considered auspicious. Yet, there was demand for only small items of silver or lightweight rings and earrings."

Estimating reasons for the drop, he said: "In 2016, demonetisation happened but the sales were still okay. In 2017, the sales dropped by 50% and, this year, these have declined by the same percentage. If this is the trend, we will be in a massive loss."

Agreeing, Chandigarh jewellers association finance secretary K R Mahajan said: "The Dhanteras rush also has declined continuously over a few years. Every day, the sales are dipping. This used to be our peak season but even moderate sales are hard to achieve. The sale of gold has dipped overall in the economy."

He said people did not prefer to buy heavy ornaments anymore on Dhanteras but went for silver and gold coins, rings, and utensils. Jewellers blame their losses on demonetization, as reported by the Times of India on Monday.

The low sales did not come as a surprise to the jewelers, since they had been getting a low response to pre-booking all year.

They expect the sales to now pick up in December, January, and February, pinning their hopes on the wedding season.