Jewellers look forward to Dhanteras as buyers return in strength

MUMBAI: The signs augur well for Tuesday’s festival of Dhanteras, which is the main shopping mahurat of Diwali. Jewellers are receiving robust enquiries and bookings, and many of them plan to keep shops open till 10pm, expecting footfall to pick up during the late evening mahurat.
The wedding season is picking up too. All the ceremonies that were postponed earlier are taking place now, so apart from gold, even the cloth market in Dadar and sundry businesses like fashion jewellery in Bhuleshwar are doing good business.
Purchasing power has decreased, no doubt, but traders are happy that the footfall have resumed and “everybody is buying a little something”. The price of 22-carat gold stood at Rs 45,000 per 10 gm on Monday, while 24-carat gold was listed at Rs 49,400.
Kumar Jain of the Shree Mumbai Jewellers Association said, “Customers are waiting to unleash their spending potential, which has been shackled since the lockdown. Plus the marriages that were postponed in 2020 are being solemnised now. We had visitors from Jalore, Rajasthan, who said there were 140 marriages in just two days in that cluster of villages.”
Goldsmith Kanaya Kakad from Zaveri Bazar said traders were expecting good business as the stock market was headed in a positive direction.
Deepak Devrukhkar of Mangal Murti Jewellers opposite Plaza Cinema, Dadar, said, “We expect Dhanteras to bring good recovery since Dussehra sales were beyond expectation too. I am expecting light jewellery and gold coins of 5-10gm to do well.”
Devrukhkar, who is also treasurer of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vyapari Sena, said, “Even the cloth market is faring extremely well. Shops in Dadar were open till 10pm Sunday.”
However, the age-old practice of buying utensils on Dhanteras has waned this year. Biren Kenia of Sagun Steel, Bhuleshwar, said, “Rates of steel, copper and brass have shot up by 30-40% in the last three or four months. So festive purchases and corporate gifting is dismal. But we are receiving a parallel segment of wedding buyers.”