As the Garden State’s Indian community prepares for the annual Diwali, or “Festival of Lights,” celebration, business owners are grappling with how to cope with high tariffs affecting prices and spending this year.
“People are looking at different items and noticing that things are much higher than what they used to be,” said Niket Patel, co-owner of Patidar Supermarket, an Indian grocery in North Brunswick. “When we see the (customers), we see how they’re spending, and they’re no longer buying that new item. Instead, they are sticking to what they need.”
Diwali, the biggest holiday of the year on the calendar for the Indian community, is an annual five-day festival focused on the victory of light over darkness and good triumphing over evil. This year, Diwali is from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24, according to Almanac’s website.
But this year is different, business owners said.
In late August, the Trump administration placed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India doubling the overall tariffs to 50%, Reuters reported.
The move followed India’s purchase of oil from Russia, which is at odds with the United States over the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Now, business owners like Jhai Singh, who sells authentic Indian incenses and cookware, are fearing the worst.
“If I am paying tariffs, I’m the first one online, because I’m an importer. So, what I essentially have to do is pass it down to the mom-and-pop stores and the chain stores that buy from me,” said Singh, who owns Piece of India Inc., at 409 Joyce Kilmer Ave #1 in New Brunswick.
He said consumers are ultimately going to be the ones paying the tariffs.
“Consumers are very apprehensive at this time in picking up merchandise. So, definitely there’s a slight slowdown in business,” said Singh, who has run his business for 35 years. “I do understand why there are tariffs and why we’re going through this, but it is going to be a little bit hard on, I think, all entrepreneurs, not just the ones from India.”
New Jersey’s Little India, located along Oak Tree Road in Edison and Iselin, is home to the largest Indian business hub in the country, according to Choose New Jersey.
Pintoo Arora, owner of Pintoo Jewelers, at 1411 Oak Tree Road in Iselin, sells diamond jewelry.
“We used to get our own stuff from out of the country, like from India, so that’s not coming anymore. The prices are crazy, the tariffs are crazy, so we can’t get anything,” said Arora, who has owned his business in for 22 years. “As of now, we are hoping that some policies change, so that we may get little bit of relief from that because it’s too much.”
Arora said one of his pieces of jewelry used to cost $5,000, but now due to the tariffs, the price has increased to $7,500.
“The customers are not willing to pay that price,” Arora said. “It’s too much.”
Still, Arora said he remains optimistic.
“We’re trying to just keep our fingers crossed,” he said. “We are like 15 days away from Diwali, and that’s the biggest festival we have.”