GST overshadows Ambala festivities

Ambala: The glitter of Diwali has been overshadowed by the goods and services tax (GST) and demonetization, say residents and traders of Ambala.

There has been a fall in sales during festive season, including Dhanteras, said shopkeepers in the Haryana town. Unlike previous years, traders have not made any bulk purchases, but are still having a hard time in selling what they have bought. “Customers have not come the way they used to. It was only in the evening that Sarafa Bazaar came to life,” said the owner of an electronics store, Ramesh Sharma.

Shopkeepers said GST had, “obviously”, made a “huge impact” on the market.

Shopping on the occasion of Dhanteras, Ambala resident Suman said she is from a middle-class family, but kept a limit on the purchases.“This time, everything is not as reasonably priced as earlier,” she said. Even makers of traditional clay and earthenware lamps, and idols of gods, faced a fall in sales. They said their industry could not escape GST.

Gurcharan Singh, another shopkeeper, said post-GST and demonetisation, people had been wary of shopping. He said residents would earlier start shopping from Navaratras and that continued till Diwali. “Demonetisation and GST have created a confusion in people’s mind; they have been hesitating in spending so far,” he said.