Bihar officially has over 1.50 crore families––about seven crore people––living below poverty line, yet on Dhanteras day over 2,000 four-wheelers of different brands and companies hit the roads of Patna alone. Their total price is likely to be over Rs 100 crore.
Ninety per cent of these swanky cars were booked days before Dhanteras, only the delivery was made on Wednesday. Dealers say that the sale would have been much higher had it not been election time. Of these 2000 vehicles about 850 were of different Maruti brands. Last year 1400 four-wheelers worth Rs 60 crore were sold in Patna alone.
Initial estimate suggests that electronic equipment worth Rs 150 crore were sold in Patna alone, not to speak of other cities and towns.
According to Navin of Krishna Agency 1000 lap tops were sold on the day. Besides, LCD TVs, washing macines, fridges etc are selling like hot-cakes. There is about 40 per cent rise in the sale of electronic goods this year.
The withdrawal from the bank was so brisk that there was no money in many ATMs in Bihar’s capital. Besides, gold, silver and precious stones worth crores of rupees were sold on the day.
With more new vehicles in Patna the state capital is likely to face more traffic congestion in days to come. Cities like Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga etc also witnessed huge sale of different luxury items and electronic equipment.
Bihar is an exceptional case as all these booms are taking place in the state which is still the poorest in the country and where roads are still very congested and hardly any electricity to run electronic goods.