21st October 2020 –
Customs clearance delays at Indian ports have increased to almost a month now. Industry sources blame poor roll out of the faceless assessment system and lack of quick resolution by authorities for the crisis.
Some products are in short supply because of the delay in customs clearance, said Ritesh Ghosal, CMO of Croma in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
“In the first four days of festive sales, we saw great growth but whether these are sustainable or not is a question because of shortages,” he added.
Air purifiers and steam inhalers, were seeing 50 percent growth year-on-year, Ghosal said, adding that microwave sales were getting impacted due to custom delays.
Kamal Nandi, Business Head & Executive Vice President, Godrej Appliances said he expects 15 percent year-on-year growth in October and November.
He said that strong demand for home appliances was not just pent-up, but was partly structural as well.
Nandi expects full year revenues to be down 10-15 percent year-on-year, but this would still be better than estimates of a 30 percent decline few months back.