Asia’s biggest jewelry market, Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai, which is home to near 3,000 jewelry stores, reopened for business today as per the norms outlined by the Maharashtra government. It has been decided that stores on the right side of the road will do business on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and those on the left side of the road will be open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
The stores will raise their shutters at 9 AM and roll them down at 5 PM. They can have up to 10 percent of the workforce or 10 people, whichever is higher.
In addition to jewelry stores, the area also houses some 30,000-odd jewelry manufacturing units.
Most stores sad they were facing issues of manpower as well as security. Many workers have left for their native towns and those who stay in the far-out suburbs are having trouble coming to work as trains and buses have not begun plying yet.
Jewelry stores in many parts of the country have opened for business following the relaxations in lockdown restrictions. Many jewelers have been encouraging their customers to browse online catalogues, chat online, or over the phone with the showrooms, facilitating online payment and home delivery of the jewelry pieces.
Earlier, there were concerns earlier that many people would be looking to offload gold as soon as the markets opened. This could be either due to a cash crunch or just to take advantage of high gold prices.
But going by the trend so far, there has been no major selling reported in Maharashtra as well as other parts of the country.
In Mumbai, not many buyers were excited to flock to the iconic Zaveri Bazaar on Day One of the lockdown easing. Stores that opened for business said that many chose to keep their shutters down, and the crowd too was less than 1 percent of the normal.
Also, the feedback from the ground is that since weddings in the past couple of months have been postponed due to COVID, people will not be waiting for Muhurats for weddings for this year. So the wedding jewelry demand which comprises 60 percent of Indian gold purchases, will kick in shortly.
Officials from India Bullion and Jewelers Association, which has headquarters in Zaveri Bazaar say that they expect the footfall to start increasing in another fortnight or s. But it would take 2-3 months for it to be business as usual as the fear of coronavirus will force people to stay away from crowded places.
First Published: Jun 5, 2020 7:48 PM IST
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