Hyderabad: Diwali leaves bitter taste in mouth as sales slump

Hyderabad: Owing to Covid-19 and financial constraints caused by the lockdown to the people, particularly the middle class, the number of footfalls at sweetshops in the city has declined when compared to previous year during Diwali.

The confectioners continued to struggle with the pandemic scenario while trying to increase their sales in the festive season as their sales are yet to pick up this year. By this time during Diwali season sweetshops generally witness huge demand. But now, sales are as low as 50-60 per cent, said shopowners.

"Every year I used to buy 2 kg of sweets for Diwali but now I bought only half a kilo, as I am getting only half of salary ever since Lockdown," said K Ganesh, a customer who visited to buy the sweets in Ameerpet. On the eve of Diwali, even though people started to venture outside their houses to buy everything to make the festival perfect, lower earnings had their impact.

"Every year by this time there used to be high sales of sweets and gift hampers, whereas in the present situation, the sales have gone down and only few people are coming to purchase and that too in small quantities " said one of the shop owners in Jubilee Hills. IT companies would give the orders in huge quantities for the festive season but with many of them allowing work from home, orders have drained up, he added.