“There was a time when customers were waiting for us in long queues… and that too, for hours. Not anymore… earlier we used to call the shots and the customers flocked to just place their orders. But today, it is the customers who bargain with us and dictate the terms of the deal,” says Ramesh Ahuja of Bhagwati Traders, a shop dealing in surgical instruments in Chandni Chowk, while attending a handful of customers in the wee hours of business. The situation is more or less the same for all the surgical equipment dealers operating in the area.
The famous wholesale market of surgical equipments, situated in the busy and crowded bylanes of Chandni Chowk, is not exactly in the pink of health. With the numbers of customers dwindling and the business losing its sheen, all is definitely not well in the market that has been based at this very place since the pre-Independence era. The days of yore that Ahuja recollects so very fondly are well and truly long gone.
The problems faced by the traders are too many and too complicated. Firstly, the government decision to introduce common sales tax as well as VAT (Value Added Tax) has become a humungous problem for the traders since they have lost clients on the national circuit as these clients now prefer to buy goods from their respective local markets only. Another factor that more or less compounds the issue is the entry of foreign suppliers. Earlier, the traders at Chandni Chowk were the receiver of goods from companies in USA, UK and Japan but now these companies have themselves entered the Indian market. This direct competition with their foreign suppliers is harming the local traders immensely. “The problems we face are there for everyone to see. But, still we are satisfied with the situation as there is no other option. Once you enter a business, you have to be satisfied no matter what comes your way,” say Vipin and Himanshu, proprietors, Life Care Surgimed.
It is crystal clear that the surgical equipment market of Chandni Chowk is plagued by problems, but the business still thrives. Many surgical and pharmaceutical companies have been operational in the areas for the past 50 years. Sameer Aggarwal of Balaji Surgicals says, “Though a guess, I think that the surgical market of Chandni Chowk does business worth Rs.1000 crore per year.”
