Wilting profits
Even as the flower industry boomed during last year's wedding
season (HT City report dated December 29), the flower business
in the Capital went down during Christmas and New Year.
The market may not have good quality roses from Bangalore,
which is the hub. Growers have incurred huge losses and
they might prefer to export flowers to get better rates.
So much so that that flower merchants claim that they do
not have enough money to invest in roses for Valentine's
Day. Wholesaler Ajay Barua of Barua Flowers says, "This
year's Christmas and New Year have been the worst. It was
a nasty surprise."
As a practice, businessmen invest for V Day on the basis
of the New Year and Christmas returns. Shiv Prakash Rungta,
GM, Ferns n Petals says, "The market may not have good
quality roses from Bangalore, which is the hub. Growers
have incurred huge losses and they might prefer to export
flowers to get better rates."
A lot of money also rides on the vayda deals - investing
on the basis of the promissory calculation. Kaushal Aggarwal,
an importer; says, "Yes, that (vayda deals) used to
happen but investments were made with the excess profit
made from Christmas and New Year sales. This year, everybody
has an outstanding in the market."
Generally V-Day brings about good business. Sanjay Chandok
of Sheel Biotech says, "Within three days (around V
Day) there is a business of more than one crore."
SMS attack
Aggarwal, who does not expect rose sales of more than Rs
one lakh on V Day, gives interesting reasons for the slack.
He says, "There has not been a formal study till now
but internet and mobile messages are to be blamed for the
drop in flower sales, as it allow people to wish near and
dear ones without taking much effort"
Smita Alva of Bangalore's Florence Flora, who is one of
the biggest suppliers says, "Nobody from Delhi has
till now made any bookings for the Valentine's with us.
This is unusual."
So, does that mean she would rather send her flowers abroad?
"Well, everybody is welcome in bus ness," says
Alva.
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