Representative image. www.samantajewellers.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Why it matters
Dhanteras is the biggest buying day of India's festive season, so its sales show how much households are willing to spend after a weak monsoon and high food prices. The split matters too: cheaper gold drew buyers back, while costlier gadgets lost volume.
Dhanteras sales 2026 gave many retailers their best single day of the year on Friday, 6 November, with carmakers, appliance brands and jewellers reporting busy stores, according to company figures reported by The Economic Times and The Times of India. Maruti Suzuki said it would deliver more than 30,000 cars on the day, and Senco Gold & Diamonds put its jewellery sales growth at more than 25% by value.
The picture is not the same in every aisle. Phones, smart TVs and laptops sold fewer units than a year ago after steep price rises, retailers told The Economic Times, even as their sales grew by value.
Dhanteras sales 2026: what sold and what did not
Executives at several companies told The Economic Times that festive sales since Navratri were up by as much as 20% by value and 5 to 8% by volume on average, compared with the same period last year, across most categories. Market studies cited by the paper put the rise in online orders at more than 20%.
Cars and home appliances led. Maruti deliveries were part of a wider festive sales rush: car dealers in north India handed over almost a month’s worth of deliveries on Friday, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the body that represents vehicle dealers. Among appliance makers, Godrej Appliances reported value growth of more than 50%, Haier India nearly 30% by value and 10% by volume, and LG Electronics India double-digit value growth (10% or more), the paper reported.
Electronics were the weak spot in Dhanteras sales. Retailers said unit sales of smartphones, smart TVs and laptops fell by up to 15%, after prices went up by as much as 40% this year. Because each item costs more, their sales still grew by up to 10% in value.
Gold price dip brought jewellery buyers back
Jewellers credited a fall in the gold price before Dhanteras. Kalyan Jewellers told The Times of India that its gold price for 22 carats dropped by ₹235 a gram from Thursday, to ₹13,150 on Friday. With the gold price lower, shoppers leaned towards lighter pieces such as pendants, bangles and chains, and towards small gold and silver coins, the chain’s executive director Ramesh Kalyanaraman said.
Senco Gold & Diamonds chief executive Suvankar Sen said the lower gold price helped, with sales up more than 25% by value and footfall up 10 to 12% on last year. Jos Alukkas managing director Paul Alukkas said many buyers who had been waiting for prices to ease stepped in.
Buyers are also choosing lighter designs, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) chairman Kirit Bhansali told the paper. Giva founder Ishendra Agarwal said 9-carat jewellery, launched four months ago, now brings in about a quarter of the revenue of its gold and lab-grown diamond business.
Online platforms saw Dhanteras sales lean towards coins too. Amazon India said first-time jewellery shoppers rose more than 20% over the comparable festive period last year, and by more than 40% in smaller cities. Flipkart Minutes said orders for gold coins and bars more than doubled in the days before Dhanteras, and Bigbasket said quick commerce, its fast-delivery service, made up 80% of its coin orders.
Gold price on Dhanteras: how much it fell
Kalyan’s figures show how big the gold price dip on Dhanteras was. If Friday’s price of ₹13,150 a gram was ₹235 lower than Thursday’s, Thursday’s price was ₹13,385. That is a fall of about 1.8% in a day (NewsPlainly’s calculation from the chain’s figures). At Friday’s gold price, 10 grams of 22-carat gold comes to ₹1,31,500. This is one chain’s quoted price, not a national benchmark, and the report did not say whether it includes GST or making charges.
Maruti deliveries and other car numbers
Carmakers gave the most detailed Dhanteras sales figures, led by Maruti deliveries. The table puts them together, with who said each one.
| Company | Figure | Period | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maruti Suzuki | More than 30,000 deliveries (expected) | Dhanteras, 6 Nov | Economic Times, Times of India |
| Maruti Suzuki | 4 lakh retail sales, up 17% | Ganesh Chaturthi to Dhanteras | Economic Times |
| Maruti Suzuki | More than 70,000 deliveries, up 14 to 15% (expected) | Dhanteras to Labh Pancham, 14 Nov | Economic Times |
| Hyundai Motor India | About 16,000, nearly 14% higher (expected) | Dhanteras and Diwali | Times of India |
| Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles | More than 12,000 (expected) | Dhanteras | Times of India |
Maruti deliveries on Dhanteras were lower than last year’s because the festival fell over two days in 2025, the company said. The two papers give different figures for last year: The Economic Times reported 50,000 deliveries over the same two days, while The Times of India put Maruti’s 2025 Dhanteras deliveries at 41,000. Both agree that the two-day festival last year explains the drop.
Beyond the Dhanteras sales figure, Maruti also told The Economic Times it had orders pending for 2,53,000 cars and stock equal to about 11 days of sales. The company said almost all its models have waiting periods. Mahindra & Mahindra said it was running at full capacity with dealer stocks close to zero for most of its SUVs (sport utility vehicles), The Times of India reported. Its auto and farm chief executive Rajesh Jejurikar said the company was keeping its forecast of SUV growth in the mid to high teens for 2026-27.
Will the festive season end flat for vehicles?
Not every festive sales number points up. FADA president Sai Giridhar told The Economic Times that total vehicle sales for the festive period, counting cars, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, commercial vehicles and tractors from Navratri to two weeks after Diwali, are likely to stay flat. Last year’s festive sales had jumped 21% after GST rates were cut, which makes this year’s comparison harder. He said flat sales on that base still showed good demand.
The Economic Times noted that this year’s Dhanteras sales came after a weak monsoon, high food inflation and uncertainty over IT jobs. The season runs until Labh Pancham on 14 November, so the full festive sales totals will come later, when companies and dealer bodies release them.
For more on prices and markets, see NewsPlainly’s business section.
Frequently asked questions
How much were Dhanteras sales in 2026?
No single total was in the reports read. Executives told The Economic Times that festive sales since Navratri were up as much as 20% by value. Maruti expected more than 30,000 deliveries on the day.
What was the gold price on Dhanteras 2026?
Kalyan Jewellers said its 22-carat price was ₹13,150 a gram on Friday, 6 November, ₹235 lower than Thursday. That is one chain's price, not a national rate.
Why did Maruti deliver fewer cars than last Dhanteras?
Dhanteras was spread over two days in 2025, the company said. ET put last year's figure at 50,000 over two days; TOI put it at 41,000.