Jamshedpur: Festive shoppers in the Steel City have started loosening their purse strings for Dhanteras and Diwali bringing cheers to traders who have been looking for a turnaround in their businesses since the lockdown began in March.
Many of the shoppers, who are employees of Tata Steel, were seen buying festive items from segments ranging from automobile, gold, electronic appliances and utensils among others on Thursday and some said they will do so on Friday.
Sunil Gupta, who owns an electronic appliance shop at Kamani Centre in Bistupur said, "A major chunk of people here are employees of Tata Steel and they received Rs 250 crore annual bonus during Durga Puja. However, a small fraction of their bonus money was spent as the Puja was a low-key affair. They have saved it for Dhanteras and Diwali."
Expecting 40% of the bonus amount to reach the market, the traders said their business so far is encouraging.
Shailesh Tiwary, an HDFC car loan department official, said, “Going by the bookings, we are expecting sales of over 300 cars by Diwali.”
He further said before the pandemic, car showrooms sold 400 plus units during Dhanteras and Diwali.
"This time, many customers have also cancelled their bookings as the manufacturers could not provide the models and choice of the customers on time as their factories were hit Covid-19," he added.
Meanwhile, the city's leading electronic appliance shop, National Electronics, said items like LED TVs, refrigerators and ACs are in high demand like every year. Kitchen appliances and utensils are also in very good demand.
Raja Singh, the owner of the shop, said, "Till Diwali day, people book their items and we deliver the products at their doorstep at the earliest."
Sale of mobile phones has also seen a jump on Dhanteras. "The online classes conducted by schools and colleges triggered the high demand for smartphones," said Cosmic mobile phone shop owner Sunny Singh.
Commenting on the improved business, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said with the trend of online shopping increasing, the retail sale is gradually on the downside but after a lull since March, the traders have seen a spike in their retail sales because of Dhanteras.
CAIT functionary Suresh Sonthalia said, "Traders, who suffered losses in the past several months, will be compensated by the improved business."
Steel utensils shopkeeper Santosh Agarwal said Dhanteras has begun from Thursday evening and will continue till Friday. "People will be buying on both the days," he said.
Jamshedpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) functionary Alok Chaudhary said the city will see Rs 130 crore plus transactions during the ongoing festive season this year.