They had gone there to attend two jewellery shows scheduled to be held between September 12 and 18 and the typhoon not only caused the shows to shut down but also inflicted them various losses.
Typhoon Mangkhut has inflicted a severe blow to the jewellery industry of Jaipur and caused over a hundred jewellers to be stuck in Hong Kong. They had gone there to attend two jewellery shows scheduled to be held between September 12 and 18 and the typhoon not only caused the shows to shut down but also inflicted them various losses. The jewellers not only estimate a loss of around 30 percent of business expected from the fair, but also loss of new potential customers who visit in search of good products.
The two fairs are of different nature, the Asia World Expo scheduled to be held from September 12 to 15 is for raw material like stones, gemstones and pears. Jaipur specialises in the first two categories and many had gone there to showcase their products. The second fair scheduled to be held from September 14 to 17 is known for fashion jewellery and accessories.
“Typhoon warning caused a complete shutdown on September 15, the day when we expected maximum footfalls and sales. But we lost that. We estimate a loss of 30% in our sale. Now we are unable to return as all flights to Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and even Hyderabad are packed,” said DP Khandelwal,secretary, Jaipur Jewellers Association.
“It was a scary experience. We were all packed in hotels and the wind was so strong that we could feel vibrations in the hotel building. As all jewellers are carrying precious jewellery and stones, they have had to extend costly insurance of their goods. The second show has opened on September 17 but the response is lukewarm,” said Kamal Kothari, a Jaipur based jeweller.
Jaipur has a 300-year-old history of gems and jewellery business. City jewellers specialise in designing diamond, ruby and emerald jewellery. Here is a huge market of semi-precious stones too. The annual turnover of Jaipur business is estimated to be close to Rs 600 crore.
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