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Dhanteras gets ₹1000 crore thumbs up from shoppers in Lucknow
The overall figure for the day was expected to cross ₹1500 crore, merchants said as jewellers, automobile dealers and electronics traders in the state capital gained from the upswing in market mood.
Ending a two-year lull induced by Covid, the market bounced back on the festival of Dhanteras in Lucknow on Saturday with sale of around ₹1000 crore till 10pm with the automobile sector alone accounting for ₹400 crore, people familiar with the trend said. The overall figure for the day was expected to cross ₹1500 crore, traders said.
Jewellers, automobile dealers and electronics traders in the state capital gained from the upswing in market mood. Over 5500 two-wheelers and about 2500 cars were booked at various dealers on Saturday. Five Mercedes and seven other high-end cars were also sold.
RTO (administration) Rampher Dwivedi said, “Although 5500 two-wheelers and 2500 four wheelers were booked for delivery on Dhanteras, but only 800 got registered on Saturday. The rest would be registered in the days to come.”
“The sale of automobiles has put the fizz back in the market,” he added.
Bullion traders were a happy lot as over 190 kg gold was sold by Chowk, Alambagh and Aminabad shops when reports were last received even as shops remained open till late Saturday night. Besides, 1175 kg of silver was sold. The gold price surged to
₹51,700 per 10 grams on the day and silver went up to ₹57,500 per kg.
Chowk Sarrafa Association general secretary Kailash Chandra Jain said, “The sale of gold is expected to cross 300 kg. We expect sale of silver to cross 1700 kg in the city this year.”
Diamonds worth over ₹80 crore were sold till 10pm, he said.
“The recovery has been staged by the market, which is in the hands of middle and upper middle-class consumers who save all year in order to spend on big occasions,” he said.
Satpal Singh, a trader of electrical items in Naka Hindola, said, “The sale of electronic items has increased three times this year. LED TVs, refrigerators, ovens, lights and geysers sold like hot cakes. The electronic market saw transactions of around ₹200 crore till 10 pm. The sale is still on.”
Shops selling other items like steel, copper utensils also did brisk business.
Pradeep Gupta, a shopkeeper in Yahiaganj, said the market staged a recovery and sale of over ₹200 crore was reported till 10 pm. People were still flocking to shops, he added.
