THE STREETS of Allahabad appear to be paved with gold.
Although the city does not produce anything of value, there is a sudden spurt in the prosperity, evidenced from the swanky and flashy cars, houses built in style coming up one after the other and the general well-being of the upper middle class.
Costly five star restaurants where the bill of two people dining together is not less than a thousand bucks or even more can be seen full to the capacity.
The milling crowd at the departmental stores is another proof that people in the city have enough money to burn. All this when the city's profile does not include intense industrialisation or rip roaring business..
The industrial belt which had come up in Naini with the capacity to reap good harvest and benefit the people in general could never make the type of kick-start it was expected to make. Instead many units either closed down or were limping somehow as sick units.
So, where is the money coming from ?
Charted Accountant SR Gupta says, the situation is not as bad as it appears to be. Industrial belt in Naini is slowly heading towards normalcy. Though, some of the units are still in a bad shape but by and large it is expected that they too would be able to stand on their own feet with a little support.
He attributes change in the financing system as a cause behind the sudden spurt in cars and new buildings that are coming up in the city. Eighty percent of the development and change would come to a naught if banks stop financing cars and building loans. Even those who could not afford to purchase a car or construct a house can do so now by approaching a bank. More than ninety percent cars we see on city's roads have been bought through loans. But there is a flip side to this also. Some of the banks were even confiscating the cars due to non-payment of the monthly instalment. So, one should go in for such loans only after assessing his capacity to repay the instalment, he said.
{{/usCountry}}He attributes change in the financing system as a cause behind the sudden spurt in cars and new buildings that are coming up in the city. Eighty percent of the development and change would come to a naught if banks stop financing cars and building loans. Even those who could not afford to purchase a car or construct a house can do so now by approaching a bank. More than ninety percent cars we see on city's roads have been bought through loans. But there is a flip side to this also. Some of the banks were even confiscating the cars due to non-payment of the monthly instalment. So, one should go in for such loans only after assessing his capacity to repay the instalment, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Then the trading in the city is getting better. It is second to Varanasi. Also, a good number of people have migrated to the West Asia and were sending money to their families here. The service class has become better off leading to the general prosperity.