The economic slowdown, which is haunting the entire world, seems to have its impact on the port city, if the lull in activities in different sectors is any indication. The usual festive mood ahead of Dasara is missing this year and there is a visible drop in footfalls at malls, automobile showrooms, home appliance shops and other trade houses when compared to previous years.
The showrooms, which generally do brisk business during the Dasara festivities, failed to make it this year on such a big scale. Many automobile showrooms are trying to lure customers by offering heavy discounts, but that does not seem have made much impact.
On the other hand, people, who fear cash crunch due to economic slowdown, seem to be cautious on spending. Whatsapp group users have been cautioning their relatives and friends for the past few months against splurging.
A few shops, including a mall and some eateries have downed shutters during the last couple of months. Though they give some reason or the other, the apparent cause is lack of business. Traders, both big and small, lament that business has been dull particularly during the past few months. It’s learnt that some corporate companies are asking their employees to tighten their belts and keep the expenses to the bare minimum.
“Reports in the media on the global recession has made people think twice before the usual festival shopping. The impact is so much that even reaching last year’s target is a Herculean task for most cloth merchants. Lack of wedding muhurtams during the last six months is another reason for lull in business. Our only hope is the wedding season, which has just started this month and will continue for the next three months. We hope to make up at least to some extent,” Kankatala Mallik, president, Visakhapatnam Cloth Merchants’ Association told The Hindu.
Dip in gold sales
“Prices of all precious metals like gold has increased. The retailers have been badly affected during the last one month. There is an estimated 20 % dip in gold sales this Dasara compared to last year. Increase in crude oil prices in the international market has made investors to look at gold as a safe investment. This has led to spurt in the demand for gold and rise in its price. Buyers prefer to ‘wait and watch’ in view of the volatile situation in the economy,” says a jeweller, seeking anonymity.
