Business-northeast visited one of the occupied markets of Guwahati- the "Fancy Bazar" on the onset of Rongali Bihu.
There in the market, our business-northeast team interacted with a few of the shopkeepers there. During the interaction, all of the shopkeepers mostly spoke about the increasing prices of the silk material, which eventually led to a surge in prices of Mekhela Chadars (Assamese Traditional Attire). Customers even though are visiting shopping outlets for silk materials, it's been very less likely that people buy it now compared to earlier times. The major attractions now are other silk materials like Polypaat, and Ludhiana silk which has been the highest-selling due to their low price.
The shop owners were however hopeful yet they have lower expectations even after the pandemic.