Dampened market sentiments this Diwali in Mumbai

Diwali did not manage to light up smiles on the faces of channel partners in Mumbai this year, as the overall business was down during this festive season.

Commenting on this, Ramesh Vora, partner, Megahertz said, "The initial weeks before Diwali the sale was as expected but as the season progressed, the sales did not pick up and it was just average." Similar opinion was voiced by Magan Gangani, director, Newtrac Computers, who said, "During Diwali this year, the market was slack. However, if compared to last year, we observed a drop in overall sales by at least 10-20%."

Even the channel partners in the retail business did not see an increase in sales this festive season. Jyotin Shah, proprietor, J S Electronics said, "Market sentiment has been poor this year and the sales have been very slow. Overall, business was not upto the expectation. The retail business has been really low this year. However, the only positive part during this festival period was the wholesale business which fared well as expected."

Deepak Ahuja, CMO, Prime ABGB said, "The market did not turn at all as per our expectations and it was down by at least 30-40% in terms of overall sales. Year on year the festive season during the OND quarter is on slower side but now as the consumers buying factors have changed so we have seen a drop on a year-on-year basis." He further added, "Also, due to the emergence of LFRs and the EMI facilities and other benefits offered there which are unable to offer it has impacted our overall sales negatively."

Going ahead, the channel partners are hoping the best to come towards the end of this month. Vora said, "Next week onwards we are the market to come out of this slumber. There is always an increase in sales post the vacation period." Similar opinion was voiced by Gangani who said, "Consumers are still in vacation mode and we are hoping the market will indicate a positive growth and increase in sales post next week." While, Shah said, "We are hoping that the business will boost up post next week as the vacation period will end by then."