City’s marriage palace, banquet hall furniture making sector wants guest ceiling to go

Ludhiana: Marriage palace and banquet hall furniture manufacturing industry of Ludhiana, which is known nationwide for making quality chairs, tables, sofas, etc .is passing through harrowing times. According to the businessmen in this field, this has proved to be the worst year for their business as earlier due to complete lockdown they were unable to do any business and now due to the restrictions on number of guests in functions, there is no demand for the furniture.
Usually, during this time of the year the furniture makers were flooded with bulk orders from all over India. Businessmen are of the view that the only way there industry can see a revival is if the government abolishes the ceiling on the number of guests in marriage and other functions in marriage palaces and banquet halls. The businessmen are claiming that they have a huge stock of goods lying unsold with them due to which they have suspended the production.
Speaking to TOI, Subash Matta, owner of Mukat Industries, said “I am into the business of manufacturing furniture for marriage palaces and banquet halls for more than forty years now, but i have never seen more worse situation than these six months. After the coronavirus spread the lockdown was put into place for several months and as a result marriage palaces, banquet halls and even our factories remained closed. After the lockdown ended, now restrictions are in place on the number of guests attending marriage and other functions.”
He said, “Due to these reasons the demand for our products has fallen by 90% and as a result we are forced to keep our factories shut and suspend production. Otherwise at this time of the year we used to get huge orders before winter season as majority of wedding take place in November , December and January and the marriage palace & banquet hall owners place the orders in advance.”
Matta added that, “Though the central government had recommended that from September 21 the number of guests can be increased to 100 in every function, but this is not going to help our industry at all. Our business can pick up only if the ceiling on the number of guests per function is abolished. With each passing day our losses are rising and we request the government to take some corrective steps to save our industry.”
According to Amit Bhasin of JMD industries, “We are facing very difficult times as we do not have any orders in hand and for months we have been paying wages to our workers and staff, power bills and incurring other expenditures without even earning anything from our business. Now, the situation is such that every furniture manufacturer is under the burden of debts and we do not know what do. The only hope for our industry is that the ceiling on the number of guests allowed in marriages and other functions is done away with. Because of no clarity on when this will happen, the marriage palace and banquet hall owners are not making any purchases as they are not sure whether by the wedding season these restrictions will be over or not.”
Rajesh Kalia, a banquet chair manufacturer, said, “Every year, the marriage palaces and banquet hall owners either make purchases of new stocks or they get the old ones refurbished from us by getting cloth and design changed. This year, neither of these has happened due to the restriction on the number of the guests and very limited functions taking place. Huge stocks of unsold goods are lying with us and it seems unlikely that we will be able to sell it off this year.”