Dull Ankleshwar pins hopes on festive season

Termed as one of the historical cities of Gujarat in Bharuch district, Ankleshwar is also the sister city of Carleton, a small hamlet in southeast Michigan of USA. Known for its industrial township, GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation), the city is also home to office of ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited). Also, Cadila Healthcare and Mahrshee Laboratories are located in the city, which is also the base for many other top-notch pharmaceutical companies. Ankleshwar holds economic importance too, because of the existence of major resin industries like Resins & Plastics Limited and Pragati Chemicals Limited. Another significant company that has got its branch in the city is Asian Paints Ltd, the major Indian company for the production of paints.

Gujarat's city of oil, Ankleshwar is also renowned for Shri Ankleshwar Tirth that includes four Digambar Jain temples including the temple of Chintamani Parsvanath

The city is a shoppers' paradise too as it has major shopping complexes like The Millennium Park and Chauta Bazar. Another notable attraction of Ankleshwar is its 132 year-old Golden Bridge, which connects the city with Bharuch across the River Narmada.

However, when it comes to the IT market the city is not doing that well. While most of the dealers blame it on inflation, some also hold the overall diminishing performance of the IT industry, for the downfall. "The market's performance is moderate and it is not doing that well. The main reason for the poor show is because the IT industry as a whole is not doing well which has also affected the buying pattern," said Manish Shroff, CEO, Shroff IT. However, Vinesh Modi of Roman Telecom said, "Inflation is primarily responsible for the market's slowdown. Other than this, holiday season and low retail business have also contributed to the poor performance."

However, the dealers are hoping for good times ahead. "We hope the market will pick in the coming times. Festival season is coming and we are hoping that it will bring merry time for the IT market as well," said Modi.

Talking about the most selling IT product, laptops tops the list followed by the desktops. Corporate and SOHO are the growth verticals of the market which has an annual turnover of around 50-60 cr. "Corporate sector and SOHO brings in maximum business for us," informed Shroff.

The market also has an association named ' Ankleshwar Bharuch IT association'. Dealers say that it has been active to some extent in solving their problems related to service and price. " We have service related issues. Also, we have price related issue where some vendors give importance and higher price to partners in bigger cities like Ahmedabad. The association has been helpful to some extent in solving the problems," said Shroff.

Market Name: Ankleshwar
Market Location: Gujarat
Surrounding Markets: Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Surat
Computer Association: Ankleshwar Bharuch IT association
Prominent Dealers: Roman Telecom, Shroff IT, Radhe computers,
Business Verticals: Corporate and SOHO
Number of Active Dealers: Around 60-70