Gujarat IT sales affected due to Kamurta

After dismal sales during Shraadh in Maharashtra, it is now
time for 'Kamurta' to strike in Gujarat. During this one month, lasting
December 15 to January 15 in the Hindu calendar, the IT business in the state
witnesses a sharp drop as the SOHO and end-user community consider it an
inauspicious period to make any purchases.

The IT business at Gujarat is mainly dependent on these two
customer segments. Though corporate sales are still continuing, business is
largely affected due to Kamurta.

Rajkot-based Harish Virani, CEO of Netlink Infocom said,
"Compared to the last year, this Diwali we witnessed a drop of 50
percentage in business. Now after Diwali, we are in Kamurta period and our
business is now down by almost 70 percentage."

Similarly Ahmedabad-based Sanjay Tayal of Emerald Infocom,
said, "We have been witnessing a slack in the business pre- and post-Diwali
this year. Now our sales have dropped down considerably because the SOHO users
don't believe in making purchases during Kamurta."

Some of the partners have accepted that sales will drop
during and that nothing can be done about it. Ankleshwar's Mahesh Sabalpara of
Radha Computers said, "This is a regular phenomenon every year. We are
prepared for this drop in our sales and accept the fact that there won't be
good business till January 15."

Unlike the other cities of Gujarat, Surat has two-fold
problems during this period. The client list of the city's SOHO segment mainly
includes diamond merchants, who are into exports. Since the Christmas vacation
begins after December 25, the export business comes to a standstill. Which in
turn means that exporters do not make any IT purchases either.

Paresh Babaria of Surat's Jupiter Automation, said,
"Besides Kamurta, our business comes to standstill also due to the holiday
season in the European and American markets. Since our clients, who are into
diamonds exports, face a slack in their business, they do not make any purchases
during the period. So, like every year, we know that we wouldn't get any
business till January 15."

Shilpi Das,Mumbai, Dec 23