Inflation, social media campaigns by political parties hit traditional banner, flag businesses

By Gaurav Arora
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Oct 17 (ANI): The rising inflation and social media campaigns being run by the political parties have hit hard the traditional flag and banner businesses, especially in Maharashtra.
"This time the market is really disappointing for businessmen like us who deal in goods which were traditionally used for election campaigning," said Rahul, a Delhi based supplier of posters, banners, caps among others.
The Delhi based businessman added that although his business had been in decline since the past 15 years, it was the Maharashtra elections which have made the nosedive apparent.
"Our business has continually been affected in the past 15 years but in recent times especially since the Lok Sabha elections, our business has been on a nosedive. We are unable to understand the specific reason behind political parties not purchasing our goods but we assume that they are shifting towards digital campaigning or inflation might be the reason behind this," Rahul said.
A local shopkeeper, Hemant Patankar added that his business has now been reduced to close to one-fourth of what it was during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
"We do not have the exact details or data but our business has been reduced to just 25 to 30 per cent of what we managed during the 2014 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections," Patankar said.
He, however, expressed the hope that the business will pick up pace in the last few days of the campaigning.
"We are still hoping that the last two-three days of campaigning will see a surge in demand. We might get a breather in the last two-three days as sales usually pick up pace in that duration," Patankar added.
Elections in Maharashtra are scheduled to be held on October 21. The counting of votes is scheduled to begin on October 24. (ANI)