Sari prices in Indore up on Surat floods

The floods in Surat may push up sari prices in Indore. In addition to this, the floods have already cost Rs 15 crore to traders in the city.

The traders include cloth merchants, jewellers and diamond traders.

"Due to floods, the sari stocks could not reach the city market. Also the weavers in Surat have gone out of the city, hence the production is nil. This will create an adverse situation in cloth market during the period between Navratri and Diwali. The rates will also rise considerably," said Ashok Bhatia, secretary of Sari Trade Association.

Currently, wholesale sari merchants in the city are facing the paucity of fresh sari stocks with no possibility of supplies in the next 15 days. But the situation is not alarming hence there is no upward trend now. Yet, the traders see a possibility 15- 20 per cent hike in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, diamond trade was seen unaffected owing to offseason. The city cloth market gets more than 70 per cent sari stock from Surat. Indore is the foremost sari-centre in Madhya Pradesh. Hence, the sari business in other cities and towns of Madhya Pradesh would also be affected.

In the same way, most of the diamond traders depend on Surat for their stocks.The monthly business from Surat is estimated to be between Rs 2-3 crore.

"The rates are controlled by DTC, hence there is a great confusion in the market rates. A solution is expected in next 15 days," said Pramod Nagar of Madanlal Chhaganlal, a Sarafa jeweller.