Indore’s centuries-old sarafa market hit after gold import duty hike, PM’s appeal

Indore: Indore’s centuries-old Sarafa market, established during the Holkar dynasty and home to several jewellery shops operating for generations, is witnessing an unusually early slowdown nearly a month before its traditional lean season after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to reduce dependence on imports and the subsequent increase in gold import duty to 15% hit market sentiment and fresh manufacturing activity.Jewellers and artisans said market sentiment was already weak due to soaring gold prices and supply disruptions triggered by the West Asia conflict and after the PM’s appeal, the sector is now bracing for a further dent in demand in the coming weeks.Similar trends are being witnessed across sarafa markets in Bhopal, Ratlam, Khandwa and other jewellery hubs of Madhya Pradesh.“Many artisans have already started leaving the city due to lack of work,” said Hukumchand Soni, president, Indore Sarafa Association.Sarafa houses about 1,500 shops and the Sarafa Association has about 854 members.Workshops are operating below capacity and several migrant artisans from West Bengal, who had temporarily returned to their hometowns earlier this year after work volumes declined, are now either delaying their return or preparing to leave again due to lack of orders.Karigars engaged in jewellery casting, polishing, designing and ornament-making said jewellers have sharply cut fresh production orders in recent weeks.“Usually, business slows after the wedding season ends and monsoon begins. But this year, the decline started much earlier,” said Abhijeet Maity, secretary, Devi Ahilya Bengali Swarna Shilpi Sewa Samiti, Indore.Maity said close to 20,000 artisans, mostly from West Bengal, work in Indore’s sarafa jewellery manufacturing sector.“A single artisan generally makes around 200 gm to 500 gm gold jewellery in a month depending on design complexity and work volume, but production has dropped significantly these days,” he said.From May 17 to June 19, the ‘Adhik Maas’ period will begin during which weddings largely stop, further adding to concerns of lower demand in the jewellery sector.“We are working on limited orders and no one is able to maintain inventories in such conditions. In Chowk Sarafa, which has around 280 jewellery shops, work given to karigars has come down by at least 60%,” Gopal Soni, a jeweller from Bhopal, said.Jewellers said customers are increasingly opting for lightweight ornaments, exchange schemes and remodelling old jewellery instead of purchasing newly manufactured heavy gold jewellery.