A traders’ body in the national capital has claimed that there had been a 30 percent decline in business ahead of the New Year amid a spurt in Covid-19 cases in some countries.

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While the COVID-19 pandemic hit New Year celebrations during the past two years, this time, traders were busy preparing to begin 2023 on a grand scale, the Chamber of Trade and Industry said.

There was a boom in all sectors — restaurants, banquet hall and hotel bookings, clothing, jewellery and automobile sales, the traders’ body said.

However, with Covid-affected people not getting hospital beds in China and Japan, panic levels have gone up in India as well. Along with the fear of Covid, the winter chill has also forced people to stay home, it added.

It is estimated that usually there is business of Rs 500 crore in the New Year but it will only be Rs 350 crore this time. The number of customers in the markets has also dropped by 30 to 40 percent, said organisation member Brijesh Goyal.

Vishnu Bhargava and Ramesh Ahuja, general secretaries of the traders’ body, said about two lakh people arrived in Delhi every day from nearby Ghaziabad, Noida, Sonipat, Faridabad and Gurugram but even that footfall had gone down.

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(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)