Hyderabad: Bleak hopes of bumper sales

Hyderabad: The lingering fear of the corona pandemic is having its effect on rakhi vendors. There is a 50 per cent drop in sales of rakhi.

"As every year a weak ahead of the Rakhi festival, people would rush to buy, but due to fear of the current pandemic, people aren't coming out. Also, we could not get enough stock due to the lockdown.

We are managing with old stock and handmade rakhis," said S Vijay Kumar, owner of Vijay Rakhi, Puranapool. "In spite of proper sanitization and social distancing due to fear of spreading the virus, customers are keeping away. This current situation, makes us worry as to how we will sustain our families if we lose out on this seasonal business," said Shiva, the owner of Shiv Shanker Rakhi, Begum Bazaar.

"At Begum Bazaar, they are around 200 shops which are mostly empty. Every year they used to be huge lines in front of the shops, we used to struggle to handle the customers.

This year due to current pandemic no one is turning up," said Jawahar Shah, owner of New Bombay Kangan Hall, Begum Bazaar.

"Old-time costumers are requesting us to sell our products online," said Ravi, owner of Desire2Desing, Chengicherla.