With the onset of the festive season, the gems and jewellery industry fears losing out on sizeable sales, with some industry leaders saying continuation of the strike will be a “disaster” for the business.
All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) Director Ashok Minawala said if the jewellers continue to strike, it's going to be “a disaster” during Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra.
“We must understand the consumer demand, retain and maintain it.
There is a need to come out of the mindset and start a proper and meaningful dialogue with the government and reach some decision.
If the strike ends, the demand during Gudi Padwa as well as the entire festival season is going to be phenomenal,” he added.
Waman Hari Pethe Director Aditya Pethe rued that there is a lot of confusion in the consumer's mind with regard to the jewellers' strike as 80 per cent of the shops are shut since last one month.
“However, if the agitation is over soon, then the offtake will zoom as there is lot of backlog consumer demand. We expect minimum 30-35 per cent rise in demand on the Gudi Padwa day. It will be very high during the festive season,” he added.
“The demand will be at least three-fold during Gudi Padwa, where people consider it auspicious to buy gold, due to a lot of pent-up demand that was help up following the all India strike by jewellers across the country,” PNG Jewellers CMD Saurabh Gadgil told PTI here.