A number of show-rooms in Panaji are struggling to get walk-ins. If customers are not even walking in, how are shopkeepers expected to make sales? This surely paints a rather grim picture of the market in the state.
The dominant problem facing the business community is that the consumers are not spending. As a result, the market has stagnated (meaning zero or very low growth).
Vian Lobo, owner, Digital World (a retailer of mobile-phones), said, “The market is very tight. Even though our business is stagnated, but still, we have to pay our overheads, staff and maintenance cost. This month Samsung brand did decent business due to a new launch.”
Interestingly, however, Lobo doesn’t think that slowdown is caused by online retailers, as he said, “I don’t think the online retailers are the cause behind it. I think people are just not spending. There is no growth in the market and that’s the problem.”
A representative from Indian Terrain (an apparel brand) said, “The other day we had zero sales. The problem is people are not walking in our showroom. The GST on branded apparel is just 6 percent, but even then, the market is not picking up. Earlier, we used to have 10-15 people walking in our showroom everyday. But, now, walk-ins are not happening.”
A paint dealer, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The market is really down for us. We sell paint mostly to builders. But, builders are saying that no one is buying flats from them. This has also made it difficult for builders to pay back their outstanding to us. While builders were registering their projects on RERA website, they didn’t buy anything from us for a month.”
Besides bearing the brunt of demonetisation and GST, the real-estate sector has been badly affected by the implementation of Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA). Unfortunately, the slowdown in real-estate has percolated down to its suppliers also, as dealers of paint, cement, white goods are all grappling with stagnant market.
Sandip Bhandare, president, Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), said, “The real-estate and construction industry is going through a slowdown. As a result, many other supporting businesses are getting affected too. For example, demand for lifts has come down. Similarly, demand for new white goods like refrigerator and washing machine has come down.”
However, Bhandare didn’t agree that all the sectors are going through slowdown. He said, “It’s not as if that all sectors are having a slowdown. Some sectors like pharmaceuticals and information-technology (IT) are doing well. Demonetisation ensured that people had to deposit all cash in their bank accounts. When people have cash in hand, they go to the market and spend on garments etc. But, when they don’t have cash in hand, the tendency is to avoid spending.”
Ashish Thakkar, supplier of cement and construction materials from Panaji, said, “The market is not good at all. Six months back, it was better. The real-estate market is going through a slowdown. As a result, certain builders are taking longer to pay their bills. Earlier, we were giving 15 days to one month time for builders to pay for the construction materials they buy from us. Now, even after 2 months, few builders haven’t paid their bills.”
Thakkar continued, “As the slowdown in the real-estate sector continues, the price of cement has also fallen. Earlier a 50 kg bag of cement would cost Rs 340/kg, now it costs Rs 315-320/kg.”
Thakkar also lamented that he has to spend a lot of time doing the paper work required for monthly Goods-and-Services-Tax (GST) return. He said, “By the time, we file one GST return, the deadline for the next GST return is already round the corner. This takes a lot of our time. It would do us great help if the government can reduce all the paperwork required for filing GST return.”
It’s been over a year since the trade is struggling. Businessmen hope that things get back to normalcy as they move ahead in 2018-19.
