Covid-19: Bengal jewellers want an extra hour of business, Mumbai and Delhi markets closed

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With Akshay Tritiya and the summer marriage season round the corner, jewellery buyers in West Bengal is a bewildered lot with the state government deciding to allow shops to remain open only between 7 and 10 am and 3 and 5 pm.

Akshay Tritiya and the summer marriage season are two of the peak gold buying seasons in the state.

Jewellers said though there is demand for gold, there were virtually no customers at the outlets over the past couple of days due to the timing.

Gold hub of Kolkata

One of the biggest gold markets in the country is the Bowbazar area in central Kolkata. More than 5,000 retail outlets are located in this area of the city.

On May 3, the association of jewellery outlet owners named ‘Swarnosilpo Bachao Committee’ (SSBC) met a couple of senior Trinamool Congress leaders to place their appeal.

6 hours a day, 5 days a week

“We are not the only to suffer. Customers are also harassed. Askhay Tritiya and the marriage season is only a few days away. We could not manage to sell a single piece of jewellery on May 3,” the owner of an outlet told Money9.

“We have a proposal before the chief minister. We want to open for business 12 noon to 6 pm and would follow this schedule 5 days a week. We would remain closed on weekends,” said Bablu Dey, general secretary of SSBC.

Dey reasoned that the 7 am-10 am and 3 pm-5 pm slot has been designed keeping in mind the needs of the general public who go to the market to buy vegetable, fish, meat and general provisions.

“None would visit a jeweller between 7 and 10 in the morning,” said an owner of one of the biggest jewellery chains.

“We are just urging the chief minister to tweak the time a bit so that the time window is convenient for the customers,” said Dey.

Prices down

SSBC is one of the large organisations of gold outlet owners of Bengal. More than 12,000 jewellers are members of SSBC.

In the jewellery hub of Bowbazar, 85% of the jewellers are members of this association.

Meanwhile, 24 carat gold hit just below Rs 47,000/10 gms and 22 carat gold slipped to Rs 45,000/10 gms on May 4.

The price was about Rs 2,300 higher for both varieties in April.

“We would estimate that the customers have dropped at least 90% since April. Customers are just not stepping in after the new timing was announced to contain the second wave of infection,” said Ashim Sen, owner of a jewellery outlet near the crossing of Bowbazar and Central Avenue.

Other cities

Just like Kolkata, Covid-related restrictions have affected retail gold demand as some of the biggest markets like Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi either closed or have been witnessing negligible footfalls due to surge in Covid-19 cases.

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said the Maharashtra government has allowed export operations to resume with restrictions on the number of people working in manufacturing units. Though retail gold shops remain shut.

Lockdown has taken sheen off Akshaya Tritiya as jewellery shops in Delhi remain closed. All the gold shops in this area have remained close for the past couple of weeks.

Retailers like PP Jewelers, IP Jewelers, Raj mahal jewelers all are close for the customers. Industry sources said, in Delhi the gold buying nosedive 95% if not more.

Lockdown restrictions

Confronted with a sharply rising infection curve during the second COVID-19 wave, the West Bengal government on April 30 issued instructions closing down shopping malls, cinema halls, restaurants, bars, sports complexes, beauty parlours, gyms, swimming pools.

Lockdown restrictions are also in place in Maharashtra and Delhi.