This Diwali season brought significant financial growth to Himachal Pradesh as the state witnessed around ₹7,000 crore in festive trade. The business surge, particularly on Diwali day, has brought cheer to the local trader community, largely attributed to the early disbursement of salaries and pensions by the government—salaries were credited by October 28, and pensions by October 30, enabling people to celebrate and shop in full swing.
Being a tourism-dependent state, Himachal Pradesh generally sees its business linked to visitor inflows. However, during this festive season, regions like Solan’s Baddi-Barotiwala industrial hub, Una, Kangra, and capital Shimla became major commercial hotspots.
Himachal Pradesh Vyapar Mandal President Somesh Sharma reported that the two-part Diwali celebration contributed to dividing sales into two phases, collectively estimated at ₹7,000 crore.
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HRTC Records High Revenues
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) also recorded remarkable earnings, achieving a historic ₹2.92 crore revenue on October 30 alone. Diwali day earnings on October 31 stood at ₹2.72 crore, surpassing the regular daily average of ₹2.3 crore by ₹90 lakh on October 30 and ₹70 lakh on October 31.
HRTC facilitated festive travel by deploying 200 additional buses, generating a total of ₹76.53 crore in revenue throughout October—12% more than the previous year’s earnings for the month.
HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur highlighted the financial improvements, attributing them to the hard work of employees. Compared to the previous year, HRTC’s earnings in the first seven months of the current financial year reached ₹519 crore, a ₹63 crore increase over the same period last year.
This year’s earnings even exceeded pre-COVID levels, with the current fiscal year’s first seven months totaling ₹503 crore—₹16 lakh more than the pre-pandemic period.
In the two days of Diwali, HRTC reported earnings of ₹5.64 crore, reflecting a 14% increase in annual revenue growth. This festive season has underscored both the local economic boost in Himachal and the role of HRTC’s enhanced service in facilitating festive travel.
