Kolkata: Sweet shops across Kolkata witnessed a sales surge on Tuesday evening, with customers queuing up to buy sweets ahead of Bhaiphonta on Wednesday. The festive rush has raised expectations of strong business for sweet sellers, following a robust Diwali and Kali Puja season.According to the Paschimbanga Mistanna Byabasayee Samity, sweet sales during Diwali and Kali Puja increased by an estimated 15%-20% compared with the previous year, despite rising prices of essential raw materials such as sugar and milk. The association expects sales during Bhaiphonta to register growth of around 25% over last year’s.“Sweet shop owners across the city wait for Bhaiphonta as it is a very big occasion for us in terms of business. One day’s sales during Bhaiphonta are almost equal to the sales of sweets during a three-to-four-day festival. We started seeing long queues in front of sweet shops from Tuesday afternoon itself. If we take into account the sales on Bhaiphonta, they will exceed last year’s business by almost 25%,” said Sanjib Banik, state committee secretary of Paschimbanga Mistanna Byabasayee Samity.There were long queues in front of popular sweet shops like Bhim Chandra Nag in Bow bazaar, Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy in Hedua, and Mithai in Beck Bagan from Tuesday afternoon itself. “The demand is very good this time. Prices of raw materials have gone up, and so have the prices of sweets, but demand has remained good,” said Prajesh Nandy, one of the partners at Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy.The good business during Diwali and Kali Puja was also partly attributed to a shift in festive gifting preferences. With dry fruits becoming considerably more expensive, many consumers opted for sweets and chocolates.The price of pistachios, which was around Rs 1,200-1,300 per kg during Diwali last year, has increased to Rs 1,800-2,000 per kg this year. Walnuts, which were available at around Rs 1,300 per kg last year, are now selling at approximately Rs 1,700-1,800 per kg.Sweet shops said the demand for gift packs had been particularly encouraging during the recent festive season. “It was a good Diwali, with sales surging. There was considerable demand for gift boxes containing our motichoor laddoo, kaju barfi and kheer mohan,” said Rajneesh Sharma of Tiwary Brothers on MG Road.Chocolates also emerged as preferred gift items this Diwali. Many families and businesses opted for chocolates as gifts to family, friends and business associates over dry fruits hampers. “This year we had people opting for boxes of chocolates to be gifted on Diwali,” said Rohit Mundra owner of a chcolate shop in Bagree Market.
