180 pc e-shopping this festive season!

New Delhi, Oct 5: Fear, triggered by a series of terror attacks in major cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur, is likely to catapult electronic shopping by 180 per cent in the coming festive season marked by Dussehra and Diwali, a survey claims.

The rise in e-shopping will be witnessed in metros and large cities like Lucknow, Chandigarh, Dehra dun, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chennai, Udiapur and Jaipur, according to Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India. E-shopping, it adds, will particularly hit ground sale of garments and household articles. ASSOCHAM's findings say sale of consumer durables will also be hit this year because of little discounts being offered by manufactures of white goods in view of higher input cost. Bullion trade may not perform as well as last year. Higher inflation and loss of lives and property in serial bomb blasts have dampened purchasing enthusiasm of common investors in gold and silver, says the chamber on the basis of feedback received by it in the past ten days.

ASSOCHAM's Secretary General D S Rawat said as against e-shoppong of Rs 5,500 crore in October-November, 2007, as it could jump by 175-180 per cent to Rs 15,000 crore. Recession-hit consumer durables and white goods, however, are unlikely to benefit, he added.

UNI