It is not even the middle of April and it is already unbearable. West Bengal experienced the hottest day of the year on Monday, with the maximum temperature touching 37.4 degrees Celsius. The sizzling heatwave has caused enormous discomfort and affected lives across the state.
The Met office has warned that the mercury is likely to shoot up by mid-week due to the prevailing dry and hot north-westerly winds.
The Met office also said Kolkatans will continue to face the sweltering heat till April 15.
Even as the (summer) season has just begun and the IMD has predicted an unprecedented heatwave across the country, people, reeling under pressure thanks to the growing inflation, are making a beeline to purchase ACs and coolers as per their affordability to beat the extreme heat.
Registering a good sale
“During this time of the year, we usually see a good demand for ACs. It starts in March and gradually ends by July-August. This year, the demand picked up a little late, but it is going strong,” said Ramesh Agarwal from Agarwal Electronics at Chandni Market. Similarly, the managers of a Croma Store agreed and said that by now, they have sold several units. “Till the second week of March, Kolkata’s weather was tolerable and hence the demand for ACs was not that high. Suddenly, within two weeks, the temperature has been soaring relentlessly forcing people to shell out cash or opt for EMI schemes (galore) to purchase ACs,” said Ajay Shaw from Venus Appliances.
No takers for coolers
Due to Kolkata and West Bengal’s humid weather conditions, there are no takers for coolers, but demand for 1.5-ton to two-ton ACs has hit the roof. “Especially in apartments, flat owners prefer 1.5-ton ACs for bedrooms while two-ton ACs are ideal for the living room. There is good demand for both this year,” said Agarwal.
Second-hand ACs have a good market
There is good demand for used ACs. Shankar Lal, who repairs and deals with second hand ACs, said this is the time of the year when people change their ACs. “While several machines are scrapped, many are repaired and resold. As of now, we have sold around 10 pieces of used ACs this year,” he added. According to Lal, there are several utilities for buying a used AC. “The price is usually one-third of a new machine and after proper repair, they run for years without any major glitches. But one should always go in for non-inverter ACs because these are easy to repair and prices of spare parts are much less than inverter-enabled ACs,” Lal added.
End of WFH era hits biz
Despite the intense heat, shoppers say that the sales have been impacted and are less than last year and they feel that the reopening of schools, colleges and offices is the main reason behind this. “Till 2022, several people were working from home and they needed an office space and hence installed ACs since they had to spend long hours at home,” said Punit Kothari, owner of Five Star Electronics, but with the end of the WFH era, this trend has ended.