In Gujarat, both small and large traders of firecrackers are smiling again.
As customers throng the firecracker markets in Ahmedabad and Surat cities ahead of the week-long festive season, the wholesalers and retailers see business picking up after a two year long lull owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sales picked up momentum this festive season so much that the limited supply has not been able to meet this demand. Shopowners complain of “less supply” and going “out of stock” just in the mid of “demand days”.
While filling the gap of the last two years, most of the traders in Surat record sales going up by 50 per cent compared to 2019, shopkeepers in Ahmedabad are pinning their hopes on the extended wedding season instead.
A large number of footfalls have been seen at seasonal markets- Dabgarwad area on Raj Marg near Bhagal crossroads in Surat and Delhi Darwaja in Ahmedabad- where goods sold change as per the latest festivity — firecrackers during Diwali until March when the wedding season ends, kites for Uttarayan, colours and water pistons during Holi — are reporting “good sales” this year after Covid-19 marred demand last year.
A shopkeeper, Rakesh Patel of Dabgharwad in Surat, said, “In last two seasons the sales have gone down and this year we have seen a 50 per cent rise in the sales as compared to the pre-covid. This year we stocked 3 crore different firecracker items and now there is no item left. The firecracker factories had also stopped supply.”
With most of the firecrackers stocked in these seasonal shops supplied from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, Abdul Samad of ‘Hindustan Seasonal Stores’ at Delhi Darwaja says, “The prices for us have increased by 30 percent compared to last year. Sales are not better than what we saw in 2019 but it is better than what we expected.”
Manoj Soni, owner of ‘Shree Ganesh Seasonal Store’ also adds that costs have gone up with transportation costs going up with hike in fuel prices.
Another firecracker shop owner cum wholesaler Kamlesh Chauhan in Surat said, “Since last few days our day collection is over Rs 10 lakh and we are keeping our shops open till late in the night. We are facing a shortage of stock and even the supply from Sivakasi has been stopped. We sell only firecrackers of branded companies… Seeing the number of demands from local retailers and customers from our shops is beyond our expectations. We are also 25 percent above our 2019 years sales.”
Abdul Samad says that while for the eight to 10 days of sale of goods for Diwali, they have stocked Rs 20-25 lakh worth of goods, the shopkeepers are however pinning their hopes on the extended wedding season instead.
“The season starts after Diwali and goes on until March and a single buyer spends upto one to two lakhs so it is more profitable for us.”
Green crackers, however remain a foreign concept here. None of the seasonal stores in Ahmedabad are selling ‘green crackers’, as several of the shopkeepers confirmed.
Green crackers emit low levels of sound and reduced polluting emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxides. Soni as well as Samad attest, “the age-old mentality of the excitement around loud noise and flashes of traditional firecrackers is not going to change overnight.”
Meanwhile, at Lal Darwaja, in walled city area of Ahmedabad some of the small shopkeepers complain of tight pockets of customers while enquiries for “green crackers” elicit a common response: You want green-coloured crackers? Here, take this.
In October 2018, the Supreme Court had banned use of barium salts in crackers permitting only crackers with reduced emission and green crackers to be manufactured and sold.
Chandrika, 16, selling firecrackers with her mother for nearly a decade now at Lal Darwaja, says, “We bought the goods wholesale from Kubernagar at a much higher price this year and we are hardly selling anything. Plus people are not spending. If I try selling them ‘chakri’ that cost us Rs 70, we ask for a price of Rs 120 and they bargain it down to Rs 50.”
Ali Ansari, who otherwise relies on daily labour wages,bought goods worth Rs 10,000 in a bid to pay off debts incurred during Covid-19 but has found little luck in selling his wares, managing to sell Rs 300 worth of goods since morning.
As a mother-son duo moves on after they offer to pay Rs 50 for a box of eight flowerpot fireworks (with MRP written as Rs 90 on the box) and Ansari refuses the offer, he says, “Let’s see, there are three days remaining. On the last day, I’ll ultimately have to sell my goods at whatever price I am offered.”
Meanwhile. the state government Wednesday issued guidelines on Diwali safety, urging citizens to be “vigilant about safety” and taking precautions while setting off fireworks. The guidelines advise lighting of firecrackers in the open and insist on buying firecrackers from licensed vendors.
