Move over jewellers, Akshya Tritya is for realty firms, and cars and consumer durables companies too.

Going by the advertisements, the one-day festival, which is traditionally considered to be an auspicious occasion for buying gold and silver, is now just as propitious for buying everything — from apartments to cameras.

Car makers like Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and Hyundai Motor India Ltd are piggybacking on the occasion to boost sales with discounts or free gold coins with certain models. The offers from these companies range from free gold coins to discounts and savings of up to Rs 52,000, besides corporate discounts.

“In the southern States, the festival is especially big and people want to buy metals and, therefore, consider buying cars. Though the decision to buy a car is a longer process, consumers like to time their purchases during this auspicious period,” said Mr Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (marketing), Maruti Suzuki.

Real estate companies are looking to cash in on the festival too. Tata Housing Development Company is pushing sales at its luxury housing Amantra in Mumbai by offering 10 gm gold coins on booking an apartment at the society.

“We want to something on such auspicious days since this is an occasion when people invest. We wanted to make it more special, especially for first-time buys,” a Tata Housing spokesperson said. And then there are consumer durable chains. Electronics chains like Next are banking on the festival to sell TVs and cameras, offering a wide range of discounts along with freebies on purchase of select goods.

>aesha.datta@thehindu.co.in

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