India hopes that the Mahakumba will bring it among investors, but economists are doubting. Business and economy

Prayer, India – Arvind Agarwal has been running a business supply of stationery items across India for four decades in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The city is currently hosting Mahakumba, often called Kumbh, which is the largest religious gathering in the world.

Their mobile phone comes alive with the callers every few minutes, who ask for the prices of the major ring, calendar and diary, portray an element of all Mahakumbas, a smart gimmick that sent sales skyrocketing Is.

“I have slept for more than four to five hours during the night in the last three months due to the heavy demand of our items. The shop is kept open for longer than a normal program to send an order, ”Aggarwal tells Al Jazeera.

They say that additional demand is going to increase their annual revenue more than $ 570,000 over $ 660,000.

Mahakumba is held at four holy places every 12 years in India – Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain – at rotation based on the alignment of planets with stars. Hindu believes that the festival is an opportunity for them to wash their sins and seek spiritual liberation.

According to mythological beliefs, the festival is organized to celebrate the partition of immortal nectar – Amrit – which fell in various places in India, while deities were protecting it from demons.

The event which started at the bank of Sangam – Prayer on January 13 will end the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers – 26 February and is expected to attract millions of Hindu devotees and saints.

The festival is being held on 10,000 acres (4,046 hectares), where the makeshift tents have been constructed to accommodate monks and devotees.

Massive business opportunities

Apart from its spiritual significance, the government says a large -scale business opportunity for the entrepreneurs of the city. More than 400 million people are likely to visit the city during a 45-day festival to bathe and pray in the Ganges.

The numbers that are being tied are big.

Mahendra Goyal, president of Uttar Pradesh chapter of the Confederation of All India Traders, says that the local business will earn close to $ 3BN. State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath estimates that the festival is expected to generate revenue of more than $ 2 trillion for the country, which is the basis of calculation of Rs 5,000 ($ 58) being spent by each of 400 million people. But it is expected to be involved in this incident.

The state has hired social media affected people to promote the event and also hired hoardings at airports across the country.

Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Principal Secretary, Tourism Department of the state, said, “Luxury cottages have been constructed, and tour packages have been created for devotees from Aquarius.”

Some entrepreneurs are definitely benefiting from the explosion of tourists. 48 -year -old Ashish Mittal, who sells paper cups and plates among other disposable objects, told Al Jazira that his business has seen a large scale growth behind demand from many community kitchens in the last few days to feed the devotees. Are installed. Every day.

“Disposals are in heavy demand. We usually trade 40 million rupees ($ 462,086) in every financial year, but we are expecting an additional sale of Rs 15 million ($ 173,282) due to Mahakumba, ”Mittal told Al Jazeera.

Similarly, Vanti Imatia, a company that sells advertising space on the LED screen on a moving van, has taken away several customers for the period of Mahakumba.

“Our 25 display vans are catching millions of eyeballs in the festival area. We are hoping to generate four to five times more revenue than our large-scale previous Aquarius, ”says the company’s co-founder Rajesh Radhakrishnan.

The state government has pumped water and waste management to the infrastructure developing 70 billion rupees ($ 808.5m), and roads and highways. The federal government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi extends close to $ 250m.

Senior state government officials told Al Jazira that investment is also an attempt to show better infrastructure to attract investors.

“The huge system of creating 150,000 tents, construction of state highways, improving rail and air connectivity is to give investors a clear indication that the government is not only able to organize such a mega event, but for many people Thousands of people can also make livelihood, “KV Raju, the Chief Minister’s Economic Advisor, Al Jazeera.

However, some economists suspect the government’s claim to generate $ 2 trillion from the event.

A professor of economics, who was earlier the leading economist in India, said Sunil Kumar Sinha said, “Most devotees who travel Kumbh in groups and are related to the lower level of society and $ 58 to spend them on their own. Are not “Rating, a fitch unit.

Sinha said that the government will have to spend massively on its housing, security and food for 45 days and can carry forward the publicly claimed investment by the government.

“Real beneficiaries are related to tourism and hospitality only. Even in Ayodhya, where the Grand Ram Temple was preserved last year, the industries centered around tourism found a part of the business, but no investment was made in other areas. Events like Mahakumba are focusing only on showing the good governance of the government and there is nothing beyond this, ”he said.

Despite all the arrangements, problems persist and some devotees have complained about insufficient shelters for them in the fair ground.

“We are forced to sleep under the open sky with cold with blankets that we brought from our homes. There is no arrangement of housing and food. We have brought some dry foods because the food here is very expensive, ”45 -year -old Sunita Roy says, a housewife, who came with a group in Madhya Pradesh with a group to participate in Mahakumba from Indore.

Sayan Mukherjee, a 25 -year -old software engineer from Kolkata, said his main problem was an unhealthy toilet in the fairground.

“The government has made good arrangements in terms of crowd and traffic management, but the big problem is that impure mechanisms are toilets … they are completely dirty and full of human waste. Even for a second it is impossible to enter there and stand there, but they are the only options, ”he said.

Another complaint is increasing ticket prices.

The air fare for prayer from cities like New Delhi and Kolkata is anywhere from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 ($ 230 to $ 405), several times standard fare under Rs 7,000 ($ 81).

A stock market merchant from Kolkata, 25 -year -old Deb Prapitram Paul, told Al Jazira that he took a flight to pray to experience Mahakumb as the train tickets were sold. He paid a “too high price” of Rs 10,000 ($ 116) because there was no option. He says, “The government should help more devotees to go to the holy city during such events.”