Having their hopes pinned on summer tourist arrivals, festive and marriage season for revival of business activity in Kashmir, a disappointed trade community says it doesn’t stand benefited by either of these factors this year so far.
First the harsh winter that witnessed hurdles in smoothdelivery of supplies to the Valley due to frequent closure of Jammu-Srinagarnational highway and then the Indo-Pak hostility due to Pulwama attack onFebruary 14 coinciding with onset of spring were enough to do the damages, saythe traders.
Muhammad Yaseen Khan, president, Kashmir Traders andManufacturers Federation says although trade has picked up 20-25 percent sinceRamadhan but not upto the expectations of business community, which has beenhoping for a revival ever since suffering huge losses during 2014 floods, hesays. Inclement weather rendering huge losses to the horticulture sector oflate is also a worrying factor, he adds.
“Shortage of goods due to road closure in winter had itsspiralling effect for many months as stocks meant for sales were stuck on thehighway for long time. At present there is some hustle and bustle in the marketbut footfalls are nowhere close to our expectations,” says Khan.
Khan says the other segment of trade on which people preferto spend lavishly in Kashmir are the eatables but arbitrary price hike has beenproving to be a dampener. “Prices of essential commodities have been so highthat it proves to be a burden for a common man. But food is a category whosesales don’t ever stop,” says Khan who also heads Kashmir Economic Alliance.
The fact that withdrawals at ATMs of J&K Bank on lastthree days before Eid-ul-Fitr this year saw an increase by Rs 300 crore ascompared to Eid-ul-Adha in 2018 proved some stimulus to markets. Food itemscontinue to sell like hot cakes as sales of mutton and bakery alone before Eidthis year had touched Rs 100 crore. Readymade garments for children is anothersegment which is a round-the-year money spinner for the local tradecommunity. While sales of clothes andaccessories especially electronics have neither reduced drastically nor seen amajor upward trend, purchasing of Gold due to its high prices have disappointedlocal jewellers. “The prices of the yellow metal are at a 5-year high andpeople don’t have the disposable incomes to splurge, which is the reason theyare holding back their buying decisions,” said Bashir Rather, president of hisfaction of KTMF.
Traders say they were hoping to do brisk business for next 6months till onset of winters but uncertainty in the prevailing situationdoesn’t allow business activity to grow. First Lok Sabha polls coinciding withpeak trade months and then issues such as twice-a-week highway closure forcivilian traffic took its toll on trade, says Farhan Kitab, chief spokesman,KTMF. Kitab says pending payments of contractors lying with the governmentworth crores of rupees is also a reason for less liquidity in the localmarkets.
While tourism has picked up to some extent due to peopleescaping hot and sultry mainland for cooler Kashmir, the influx is not thathuge and arrivals are mostly from nearby states with self-arranged logistics,which has not benefited so much. Tourism players say they missed out on thetraditional tourist hub of Kashmir, Gujarat and Maharashtra due to the fearcaused by February 14 Pulwama attack andthe subsequent Indo-Pak hostilities. Ashfaq Siddiq Dug, president, TravelAgents Association of Kashmir says most of the tourists from Punjab, Delhi andUttar Pradesh who visit the Valley to spend their vacations have theirlogistics and food facilitated by outside operators. In addition sky rocketingof air fares to the Valley recently has proved to be a spoilsport. “Manytourists travel in their own vehicles from outside and even have arrangementfor food done by their tour operators. They don’t even indulge in shopping somuch,” says Dug.