As Covid fears ebbed, festive sales saw a pick up in the country. The Holi festival sales registered a 30% increase compared to last year. An estimated Rs 20,000 crore worth of sales took place for country-made items like herbal colours and gulal, water gun, balloons, Chandan, dress material registered a huge sale.
The country's premier traders' body CAIT representing 8 crore small traders in the country said there was almost no sale of Chinese goods this year. Earlier, China's exports to India on Holi stood at about Rs 10,000 crore every year, primarily of colours, toys, balloons among others.
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"Country made items like herbal colours and gulal, water gun, balloons, Chandan, dress material registered a huge sale, while on the other hand sweets, dry fruits, gift items, textiles, flowers and fruits, toys, furnishing fabric, Kirana, FMCG products, consumer durables, pooja material also had tremendous sales giving an indication of better days for the trade in the future," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.
After a gap of two years witnessing the worst days ever in the business, this year the Holi festival's sales proved a tremendous boon for business in the country for which the retail sector of the country was eagerly waiting, he said.
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"Now having a great enthusiasm from Holi business, the traders across the country are gearing up for forthcoming wedding season in April-May month which they hope will bring huge business," CAIT, which has a huge following of more than 40,000 trade associations across the country, said.
Not only the brick-and-mortar traders, but even the online shopping platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart witnessed higher Holi festival sales.
Amazon sold homemade and organic Holi colours. Its ‘FunBlast Elephant Holi Water Gun Toy’ for kids appeared favourite among children along with non-toxic Holi water balloons. Water-resistant Bluetooth speakers were also on offer for those who hardly go away from their phones.
Online shopping site Meesho recorded 1.4 crore orders in its pre-Holi sale and it saw four-fifths of demand coming from Tier-2 cities.
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