Idol Situation

 

If you thought that traffic jams were worse this Ganesh Chaturthi, you were right. The number of Ganesh idols sold this year was back to pre-slowdown levels.

Last year our dipstick showed that the sale of large idols (over six feet) had dropped by 10 percent.

This year, idol makers tell us that the shortfall has been made up for and they were even able to sell them at prices that were up to 15 percent higher than last year.

It’s the same with orders for smaller idols. Idol makers say that they have sold anywhere between 10-30 percent more idols than last year.

On a side note, there has also been an increase in the number of local bands that accompany the processions. While we don’t have figures for those, bands that have been around for a while tell us that they aren’t able to charge premium rates because a bunch of newbies are undercutting them.

(Compiled by Abhishek Raghunath)