Jaipur
May 30, 2008

Jaipur has been in the news in recent times but all for the wrong reasons. Recently a series of bomb blast took place in Jaipur, killing over 80 people and injuring 200 people and now it is the Gujjar agitation. What started as a small agitation in Jaipur has brought to virtual standstill normal life in Rajasthan and the effects has been felt in not only in Delhi and NCR region but also Maharastra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Thousands of Gujjar protestors blocked roads, national highways and railways lines. Apart from normal life, businesses have taken a major hit and the IT channel partners are no exception.

When The DQ Week enquired with partners in Jaipur if the business has taken a hit Manish Agarwal of Kanchan Computech said that they have been affected by Gujjar agitation in a big way. “We have suffered a loss of 50 percent in our businesses. Transportation has become a major problem. All the highways are blocked. Drivers do not want to go to these areas, as they do not want to take any risk. Even if they go they are not ready to take any claim for the losses.”

The major areas affected by the agitation are in and around Jaipur like Kota, Bilawara, Delhi and NCR regions. Nine trains have been cancelled and diverted due to this agitation. “This month has not been too good for partners, first we had a series of bomb blast and now this agitation. I used to send my products to upcountry locations but now because of the agitation that is not happening at all. Shops have been closed for seven days and we are suffering major losses because of that. Apart from this, the prices have also gone up, ” Aggarwal added.

Arvind Modi of Bits & Bytes too echoed similar sentiments. According to Modi, supply of goods has become a problem as materials have gotten stuck due to roadblocks. He also said that at the moment the general sentiment in the partner community was very low. “Jaipur has always attracted a lot of tourists and often they would buy stuff from us. Similarly, people from nearby places used to buy laptops and other IT products from us, which is not happening now since buyers are skeptical of coming to Jaipur because of the ongoing agitation. The Gujjar agitation has marred our business in a big way.”

After results the colleges in Jaipur also reopen by June 4, which sees a surge in demand as students usually buy PCs, or before the start of sessions. But students right now are too scared to come out of their houses also the rising value of dollar against the rupee has added fuel to the fire.

Commenting on the current market scenario Kota-based Giriraj Kandelwal of Crytstal Computers said, “The intake of material has reduced drastically and there is virtually no movement happening in the market right now. Business has taken a hit and is down by anywhere between 25 to 40 percent.”

Adding further he said, “Corporate business has not been affected much but the sales in home and SOHO sector have shown a dip due to the agitation. Walk-ins have reduced by almost 50 percent. As most of the routes, like highway from Kota to Jaipur, Kota to Delhi are closed, so the materials are stagnant and even if they are delivered it is very late.”

Even Delhi and NCR region have also seen a slowdown in business because of the agitation. Ajaya Kumar, CEO, Park Group who has distribution business in Noida and Gurgaon, said that because of the fear of Gujjar agitation, all the shops were closed in Noida and it affected the partners here. “We were able to do only 40 percent of the business. In Nehru Place too because of the bandh there were hardly any customers. We were not able to do any business that day. In Gurgaon, the shops were open only for few hours and we did not see much movement there.”

With the agitation not looking to wind down and the Gujjar's adamant about moving on, Modi of Bits & Bytes is not very enthused about the future prospects. “No one can say when the situation will return to normal, it can take three days or may extend up to 10 days or more. As of now there is no solution in sight and with elections coming up, the situation looks grave,” he concluded.

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