Crawford Market thrives again, Zaveri Bazaar hopes for better times

At Crawford Market, which is one of the busiest markets in South-Mumbai, business thrives as usual with large crowds thronging it. A year after demonetization, shopkeepers say that things have returned to normal now. Zaveri bazar, on the other hand, presents a solemn picture. The biggest jewellery hub in Asia is yet to recover from the impact that demonetization had on business. Jewellers said business was down during Diwali and they expected the market to revive by the end of the first quarter of next year.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped Rs1,000 and Rs500 currency notes, on this day last year, Crawford Market donned a deserted look the next day.

"We are used to the great footfalls daily, but when demonetization was declared, we were caught napping. We were not at all prepared. For months, people did not shop and business suffered a jolt," said Hidayat Shaikh, a shopkeeper at the market.

He did not blame shoppers for not showing up. "What's their fault? People had deposited cash in the banks and the government put limits on withdrawals; ATMs were cashless for days. How could one expect people to come and shop?" he said.

The market, which houses several shops ranging from dry fruits, chocolates, perfumeries, eatables, vegetables and pet shops looked in its element on Tuesday.

"For many days, only Rs 2,000 notes were in circulation and people would come to us, so that we give them change for Rs 2000 note. We faced huge problems then, but now the market has revived. The situation is not that bad. People have Rs 500 notes with them, which makes dealing easy. But yes, demonetization had given us a tough time in the initial months," says another shopkeeper Majid Ansari.

"I frequent Crawford Market a lot and I am happy to see this place thriving again. demonetization is a thing of the past now. I personally do not feel there are problems because of demonetization," said Nidhi Patel, a buyer
Zaveri bazaar houses around 3,000 ground-floor showrooms, has around 45,000 workshops and around five lakh people come here from Mumbai and neighbouring cities daily.

"Once the Rs 1,000 and Rs500 notes were scrapped, people deposited their money in banks. New Rs 500 notes were not printed initially, and Rs 2,000 notes were released. With the gloomy cash situation and limits on withdrawals, we suffered huge losses. Small scale jewellers had to shut down. Till March, business was almost 20 per cent of usual sales," said Kumar Jain of Umedmal Tilokchand Zaveri at Dagina Bazaar near Mumba Devi.

"The government thinks that all the black money in the market would be converted to gold. This is a wrong notion," he added.

"We made profits during the wedding season and Diwali earlier, but those days are gone. Profit marks have not even touched 50 per cent. Dhanteras was good but the overall market position is still weak and people do not have cash. On Dussehra, we had less than 20 per cent business," said another jeweller Rishabh Zaveri.

"During Dusshersa, Akshay Trithiya, Dhanteras and Gudi Padwa, we make double the money but suffered a lot after demonetization as there were no big purchases. The situation is slowly improving," said jeweller Narayan Choksi.