Trade back on track, Gujarat suffers loss of Rs 25,000 crore

AHMEDABAD: After coming to a standstill following violence in Ahmedabad, industries and trade resumed normal operations on Thursday across state.
However, industrial units remained shut in some sensitive areas of Ahmedabad and other parts of state. According to industry players, Gujarat witnessed a business loss of more than Rs 25,000 crore due to the widespread violence in two days.
“In some sensitive places, it might take a day or two for some of the traders to resume work,” said Jayendra Tanna, president, Gujarat State Traders Federation, which has 600 trade associations as its members.
People were seen lining up at petrol pumps and milk outlets on Thursday morning. Arvind Gajera, secretary, Federation of Industries Association (FIA) said, “With situation still sensitive, industries in Nikol in Ahmedabad and Mehsana were yet to resume operations on Thursday. Otherwise, industries were back to regular operations in Ahmedabad, Surat and Saurashtra.”
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“Engineering units in Rajkot remain closed on Wednesday due to power cut. Today, all the units are operational. There are around 10-12 units in and around Rajkot,” said Gokul Patel, president, Rajkot Engineering Association.
However, Agriculture Produce Market Committee (AMPC) in Mehsana, Unjha and Palanpur were closed due to the curfew in these areas. Other AMPCs were operational.
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"All the dairies associated with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) were operating normally," said a senior official of GCMMF.
Several malls and multiplexes in the city also opened up on Thursday but the footfalls were less compared to other days. Some of the multiplexes in areas like Sattadhar and Nikol were still closed.
Bullion traders and jewellers in the city also opened up anticipating good sales with just a day left for Rakshabandhan. “It is already a slack season for us in July-August and two-day shutdown only added to it. Bullion traders and jewellers across state suffered losses of more than Rs 150 crore in last two days,” said Piyush Bhansali, president, Shree Choksi Mahajan, Manek Chowk.