Cracker shop owners in sivakasi note decline in sales ahead of deepavali season

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Though Deepavali is around the corner, cracker shop owners in Sivakasi and surrounding areas are facing a decline in sales due to the cropping up of thousands of outlets

against the usual few hundreds and a preference for online shopping. However, the shift towards online cracker sale (which is banned by the Supreme Court) has made several people fall prey

to fraudsters, who pose as Sivakasi-based outlets and operate at very low prices. Sources said that with over 2,500 retail cracker shops in Virudhunagar district, shop owners have been

gearing up for cracker sales since Aayudha Pooja (October 11). However, customer turnout did not increase as expected, which is not the usual case during peak Deepavali season. The counters

at the shops remain deserted without customers anywhere in sight. Shopkeepers pointed out that people preferred online shopping and the festival falling at the end of the month were reasons

for the drop in sales. "To minimise travel cost and purchase high-quality crackers at a cheap price, people from other parts of Tamil Nadu place orders online. However, several

customers fall prey to fraudsters, who pretend to own shops in Sivakasi and sell crackers online at a very low price," few shopkeepers said. Speaking to TNIE, S Gowtham (23), owner of a

cracker shop in Amathur, whose family has been in the business for over five years said that some of his customers from Chennai and Coimbatore lamented that they placed orders varying from

`10,000 to `40,000 from websites pretending to be Sivakasi-based cracker outlets and were cheated. "People should not be deceived by discounted prices, especially when they purchase

online. The manufacturing price of a 'Kuruvi' cracker packet is `6 and it is usually sold at Rs 8. However, some fake websites price it at `3 or Rs 2," he added.  "The

online sellers do not send the exact quantity that the customer placed the order for. Later, when the customer tries to reach out to the seller, they are unavailable. The government must

take active measures against such scammers," shopkeepers said and added that due to the advent of online scammers, people have a negative outlook towards cracker business at Sivakasi.

They said it would be better if customers visit the shops in person and avoid falling prey to illegally manufactured crackers. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing has stated that

nearly 17 complaints have been registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal between September and October this year. Noting the Supreme Court's verdict that crackers should

not be sold online, a functionary from the Federation of Tamil Nadu Fireworks Traders said that shop owners under their association have been instructed not to sell crackers online.