Diwali this year has brought cheers for every sector in the state starting from automobile ancillaries to machine tools, automobiles and diamond and gold.

After a recessionary year, the prospects for commerce and industry this Diwali look bright. Sales and production are showing improvement and the market is upbeat again.

“The atmosphere is encouraging. The last two quarters have been very good and commerce and industry are back on track,” said Hitesh Bagdai, president of the Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He added: “The stimulus packages by the Centre and the improvement in the global market have led to 10 to 30 per cent growth in the market. The real estate situation has also improved.”

Suresh Patel of Amul Industries, a major automobile parts manufacturer from Rajkot, said: “The entire backlog has been cleared. The production has been on in full swing. The projections have been met 100 per cent.”

He added: “The sale of two and four wheelers have picked up for a couple of months now and parts manufactures are back in business.”

Rajkot has nearly 200 auto ancillary units supplying parts to big companies like Tata, Mitsubishi, Mahindra, Maruti and Hyundai. In slow down, the production was down by 40 per cent.

Though the export market is yet to bounce back, domestic demand has set the momentum for the industries.

“The demand in domestic market has helped us get back in business. The growth in the past two quarters is over 30 per cent,” said A P Mathew of Saurashtra Iron, a big player in production of ball bearings.

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