Resulting from the government's 'vocal for local' initiative, Chinese businesses face a massive loss of at least Rs 1.25 lakh crore this Diwali as sales of Chinese goods relating to the five-day festival have considerably dipped, said Confederation of All India Traders on Tuesday.
With Diwali celebrations starting on a positive note this week, retail trade on Dhanteras alone is estimated to touch Rs 60,000 crore, said CAIT General Secretary and MP Chandni Chowk, Praveen Khandelwal.
This Diwali, the 'vocal for local' initiative is there in the markets because almost every purchase being done is through Indian goods. According to an estimate, due to the non-sale of Chinese goods related to Diwali, China is suffering a loss of about Rs 1.25 lakh crore, Khandelwal said in a statement.
CAIT has requested the nation's industries to help women, potters, artisans, and all others to make Diwali-related items through the sale of their products.
National president, All India Jewellers and Goldsmith Federation, Pankaj Arora said that on Dhanteras the sales of gold and silver had witnessed record breaking.
"On Dhanteras, gold worth about Rs 20,000 crore and silver worth about Rs 2,500 crore were purchased across the country," said Arora.
Around 2 lakh jewellers have registered with the BIS and sold about 25 tonnes of gold worth Rs 20,000 crores and 250 tonnes of silver was sold throughout the country.
Last year, the price of gold was at Rs 60,000 per 10 grams which is now above Rs 80,000. The price of silver last year was Rs 70,000 which crossed one lakh.
So, though weights sales have gone down, the currency terms sales have been up.
Except for that, there was an enormous demand for old silver coins were witnessed, which were being sold at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,300 per piece almost all over the country.
Gold prices in 24-carat remained at Rs 78,850 per 10 grams, IBJA reported.
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