Shoppers tighten Id budget, Kolkata shopkeepers feel the pinch

July 21, 2014 10:35 am | Updated 12:31 pm IST - KOLKATA:

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It is 6.30 p.m. on a Sunday and an otherwise bustling Chandni Chowk market in the city’s central area is considerably empty. While most of the predominantly Muslim customers are off the roads to break their fast, there is another reason why the area bears a desolate look.

Sultan and his helper, sellers of sevai , are ending their Ramazan fast while being seated at their stall as they don’t want to miss out on any prospective customer. Sevai or vermicelli is used to make a traditional sweet dish on Id, although many families prepare the dish during the Ramazan month.

“Business this year is abysmally low. We are selling sevai for Rs. 110 to Rs. 120 per kg, yet the stock refuses to finish. We manage to make only about Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,200 a day,” says Mr. Sultan. With eight or nine days to go before the city celebrates Id-ul-Fitr, the crowd is uncharacteristically thin, he says.

“Our customers started thinning from last year. Hopefully, the situation should brighten after a few days when the actual rush before Id starts. That’s when people will need to buy sevai the most,” says Mr. Sultan.

The stall next to his is filled with a variety of fruits and the seller is sitting and chatting with his friend.

“The demand for fruits is at its peak in early evening, just before iftar [evening meal taken at sunset to break the day-long fast]. During the rest of the day there’s very little business. There are not many customers as the prices of fruits are slightly higher throughout this month,” Ilias Ahmed says.

Every year, as Id approaches, city markets are flooded with people shopping on the streets with their families. However, with the price hike, people’s spending habits have changed. This can be observed in Market Street near central Kolkata’s Dharmatala area. The roads here are bustling with temporary roadside stalls selling clothes. While stalls selling cheap denims and T-shirts are making brisk business, sellers of children’s and women’s fancy clothes are sitting idle.

“People now want to spend their money on clothes that they will require on a daily basis. The clothes that I sell are fancy. Children will wear them for a few occasions and soon grow out of them,” Maqsood Ali, a seller of children’s clothes, says.

“Business has been a little slow since the past two years. With rising prices, people have less money to spend on luxurious items. With the little money that we have, food is more important than buying fancy clothes,” he says, as he bargains with a customer for Rs. 50 for a sequinned frock. Teenaged Ashraf is busy folding up a sari in his elder brother’s stall as he says, “The demand for readymade clothes is much higher among women. Although saris in my shop range between Rs. 250 and R. 650, there are not too many takers this year. But things will look up in the last two to three days before Id,” adding that prices will be hiked to make up for the lost business.

With rising prices, middle class Muslims are finding it hard to balance daily expenses and Id-related expenditure. Out with her mother to shop for the male members of her family, Sultana Begum says, “Our budget is slightly tight this year. Although we can’t curb our food expenses, we are looking at cheaper options for gifts this year.”

Expressing hopes on the newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, Ms. Begum says, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised us better days. I am hoping that next year we won’t have to worry of overshooting our budget before a festival approaches.”

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