this story originally appeared in on dec 30 2016kolkata it is official demonestisation has dealt a big blow to the consumer goods sector sales of televisions refrigerators washing machines and microwave ovens declined 38 in november compared with the same month last year wiping out the record growth rate posted by the rs45000crore industry during diwali experts say the industry was poised to report one of the best octoberdecember quarters after six years but demonetisation played spoilsport data from retail sales market tracker gfknielsen reveal flat panel television sales were down 304 in value terms and 266 in volume terms in november appliances sales took a bigger hit with refrigerator value sales declining 412 and microwave ovens slipping 53 during the month these numbers are for sales at both brandexclusive shops and multibrand stores across the country this drop in sales come on the back drop of a record october sales which saw a growth of 75 with categories such as flat panel television and washing machine reporting 94 and 116 growth respectively show gfknielsen data according to industry executives october gains will get completely wiped out during the full quarter since sales in december too are down around 15 even if we consider that diwali last year was in early november the industry sales would have been at worst flat during the same month this year considering the market was growing at 20 during usual time this decline in sales is purely the effect of demonetisation which will ultimately lead to a flat quarter at best said godrej appliances executive vicepresident and business head kamal nandi around 60 of white goods and television purchases in india used to be in cash and the remaining was through debit and credit cards and consumer finance schemes even as companies are seeing a slow pick up in sales in big cities smaller cities and towns continue to fare poorly said industry experts sales continue to be down for retailers who have not yet started accepting digital payment or where consumer finance penetration is low this is due to the fact that cashbased transactions are now just 1015 of overall purchases and this may continue to do so hence in december we expect sales to remain down by around 10 said videocon chief operating officer cm singh a senior executive with a leading korean consumer electronics maker said that consumers are postponing their discretionary purchases while january may continue to be down due to rise in prices of single door refrigerators as energy efficiency norms have been tightened we expect normalcy from february because of pickup in airconditioner and refrigerator sales in south and west he said while television makers have already reduced their production due to fall in sales appliance makers are continuing with production of cooling products such as refrigerators and airconditioners in anticipation of a warm summer next year the industry has also postponed the price hike which happens around january due to poor demand the companies are now busy