2016 Unrest haunts Eid sales in Kashmir

Economy down, markets bereft of hustle, say traders

The severe damage caused to economy due to 2016 unrest is haunting Kashmir businesses badly with traders here saying that markets are down and sales are unable to pick up even ahead of Eid, which has traditionally remained a peak season for retail.
Markets used to remain abuzz a week before Eid, however, the situation this time, as per business community, is different with markets remaining bereft of hustle. Complaining of less footfall and minimum sales, traders blame declining purchasing power of people due to last year’s slump.

The business community in Kashmir recorded Rs 16,000 crore losses which is a huge setback and is yet to come out of those losses due to subsequent prevailing situation.
“There is a distressing impact of 2016 on today’s business. Never have I seen a meltdown of businesses in the Valley ahead of Eid,” said president Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mushtaq Ahmad Wani.
“Money flow in the market is almost zero. Now the impact of closure of business for six months during unrest is being experienced by both customers and traders. Even no bigger imports or exports have been reported on this Eid,” he said adding that development works by government contributed a lot to the market by keeping the money flowing round the year.

“Last year apart from shutting business, the developmental works also were halted for a long period. Even no new projects were approved. So when people had no money traders definitely had to bear the brunt,” Wani said.
President, Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation, Muhammad Yaseen Khan said the business is down by over 80 percent this time as compared to last year’s Eid season.
“There is liquidity crisis in the market, people don’t have money to go for shopping as the losses suffered by Kashmir were beyond their capacity,” Khan said adding that first there was devastation during 2014 floods and then 2016 losses suffered during unrest.