GUWAHATI: Committee members of various puja pandals who had earlier expressed concern over economic slowdown which was reflected in the dip in sponsorship amount and donations have informed G Plus that amidst the economic slowdown, footfall in pandals remained unaffected.
“People from all walks of life, in large numbers, visited our pandal this year. The footfall was much more than what was witnessed in previous years,” informed BK Goswami, member of Noonmati Sarbajanin Puja Committee. This year, the Noonmati puja committee installed idols made of marble instead of clay at the puja mandap with the aim to prevent water pollution caused by the immersion of clay idols.
Similarly, other puja pandals including Bishnupur, Athgaon, Tokobari, Chatribari, Pandu, Shantipur and Nayantara also registered immense footfall this year. It may be mentioned that the pandals gave precedence to various themes that instantly attracted pandal-hoppers this time around.
“I had seen pictures of meticulously decorated pandals and thus decided to go pandal-hopping on the occasion of ashtami; to my surprise, I was able to visit merely four pandals due to the long queues outside each pandal,” exclaimed a resident of Guwahati.
However, some pandal-hoppers opined that while puja pandals remained abuzz throughout the four days of festivities, there was barely any crowd to be seen on the roads of Guwahati, owing to the traffic management.
Economic Slowdown Hits Festive Market In Guwahati
The festivals of Durga Puja and Diwali have always been associated with bonus, shopping and spending. However, the shadow of a country-wide economic slowdown, following demonetisation and implementation of goods and services tax (GST), was quite evident during this year’s festivities.
A change has been observed in the spending pattern of consumers since demonetisation - while many consumers have cut down on their discretionary spending, some are not spending at all (wanting to hold on to cash in case the situation worsens). A sizeable number of consumers have also made the shift from retail outlets to e-commerce websites to get better bargains.
Business owners and roadside hawkers in Guwahati also claim to have witnessed a substantial slump in their sales.
“I have noticed that consumers are not willing to spend. There seems to be fear in their minds as they are holding on to their money," a renowned businessman told G Plus.
A street vendor in Fancy Bazar, Komen Das, talking to G Plus said that every year he invests Rs 2 lakhs before pujas, but this year he invested just Rs 50,000 as he did not have enough money.
“There is a dip in the sales,” said Das explaining that somehow after demonetisation, the market is witnessing less flow of customers. Das has been running a roadside shop in Fancy Bazar since the last 20 years.
Similarly, the sales of many branded showrooms have also gone down in the city and they are not making profits like previous years.
In addition, even the spending capacity of householders has decreased drastically in Guwahati.
“I had a budget of Rs 40,000 last year for festive shopping, but this year, I could manage only Rs 20,000 as I am facing a financial crisis,” said Kedar Nath, a city-based businessman. His wife and children are irked with him for not fulfilling all their demands.
The puja pandals also experienced financial crisis as they received very less sponsorship this year.
IMF warns of economic slowdown in 90% countries, India to be hit hard
The world economy is experiencing a “synchronized slowdown" and in some of the largest emerging market economies, such as India and Brazil, the slowdown is even more pronounced this year. This was stated by the new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva in her inaugural speech since taking the helm of the multilateral lender.
The IMF managing director pointed out that the widespread deceleration meant that growth this year would fall to its lowest rate since the beginning of the decade. She projected that the IMF expects slower growth in nearly 90% of the world this year.
The IMF chief warned that there is a serious risk that services and consumption could soon be affected as global trade growth has come to a near standstill.
The precarious outlook presents challenges for countries already facing difficulties.
It may be mentioned that India’s economic growth slowed to 5% in the June quarter, the lowest over six years. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered India’s GDP growth estimate for the year to 6.1% from the earlier 6.9% due to the ongoing period of economic slowdown.
Despite this overall deceleration, Georgieva said that close to 40 emerging markets and developing economies are forecast to have real GDP growth rates above 5% — including 19 in sub-Saharan Africa. In the U.S. and Germany, unemployment is at historic lows, she added.
The IMF chief thus called for using monetary policy wisely and enhancing financial stability.