Akshay Tritiya brings biz back to jewellery stores

Kolkata: The festive mood was back on BB Ganguly Street on Akshay Tritiya after a slowdown for two consecutive years owing to the pandemic.
For price-sensitive buyers, Akshay Tritiya Day offered a double bonanza as the gold price plunged by Rs 400 (per 10gm) on Tuesday. The price of the yellow metal was down at Rs 50,290 (per 10gm of 22 carat purity) from Rs 50,690 a day back.
On Tuesday afternoon, by the time people started dropping in, shops were already decked up. Cars of customers were lined up on both sides of the road, reminding one of the pre-pandemic times. “It is a happy occasion and it seems that the market is bouncing back. It is such a relief to see customers back to shops celebrating the auspicious day,” said Bablu Dey, president of the Swarnashilpo Bachao Forum.
At R Chowdhury & Sons, store managers were busy all day attending to them. “Last year, we had three hours to keep the shops open and train services did not resume. Compared to that, we are much better placed this year. But the average billing size is yet to match what we had in pre-Covid times,” Sriparna Chowdhury of R Chowdhury & Sons said.
“We have been witnessing good sales since the festive season in October. Covid-19 seems to be on the wane and the market has started picking up. We were expecting an increase in sales by at least 20% this Akshay Tritiya,” said Rupak Saha, zonal member of the Gem and Jewellery Trade Council of India. With intermediate showers in the past few days, weather had also improved on Tuesday.
According to city jewellers, there were five auspicious time slots to buy gold on May 3. “The Visuddha Siddhanta almanac says that the Akshay Tritiya falls on Wednesday as well. Which means we have two days marking Akshay Tritiya this year and we can expect auspicious buying to continue on Wednesday as well,” Saha said.
“We were expecting the market to bounce back and Akshay Tritiya opened on a very positive note. Customers have been coming to the shops since morning. We are extremely happy with the response,” said Anargha Uttiyo Chowdhury of Anjali Jewellers.