Low sales mark wet Diwali

Pune: The untimely rains have dampened the sales of Diwali merchandise, including sweets.

Pune: The untimely rains have dampened the sales of Diwali merchandise, including sweets.

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Sachin Nivangune, president, Pune district retail traders association said, “The festive season business has been slow and slack. Usually October is a period of festivities and sales pick up briskly before Diwali, but there is a dip by 40 per cent in sale of retail and festival goods because of rains and elections.”

The sale of dry fruits, sweets and faral (assorted snacks) has suffering as it is losing crispiness due to moisture. “I have stopped taking orders for chakli and ladoo as it is difficult to store and maintain the crispiness because of the bad weather,” said Kalpana Paradkar, who takes order for faral before and during Diwali.

“Diwali is all about spreading the light. Traditionally, lighting the house with glittering strings of lights and Punekars prefer to hang the hexagon kandil (lantern) outside their homes or in their balcony along with diyas. Since the ban on plastic last year, many Punekars have gone back to the traditional style of making lantern at home using paper or buying them from the shop,” said Aparna Degaonkar, who is busy making small lanterns at home using handmade paper.

A few of the gaudy shiny plastic lanterns sway in the wind in Bohari Alli (Raviwar peth), but people prefer picking up the trendy cloth variety. “The sale of cloth lanterns has picked up since last year. Hence, this year, most of my handmade lantern patterns are mostly using cloth. I have used recycled pieces of cloth to create new designs which are selling briskly,” said Vidya Sawant who has been selling lanterns for the past 15 years.

The cloth lanterns cost between ₹200 and ₹550. She has also got reusable lanterns in fibre which cost ₹650 and above.

“The cost of products, including sweets, lanterns and even readymade stuff, has been expensive this year during Diwali because of the declining economy,” said Pradnya Kulkarni, a homemaker.