KP's Naranjan Singh sells groceries without profits during Ramazan

BPESHAWAR: Amid the toll that inflation has taken on citizens, Naranjan Singh, a shopkeeper belonging to the Sikh community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Khyber district (KP) is keeping up his tradition of giving up profits every year during the month of Ramadan. Talking to Geo News, Singh said people can earn money during 11 months of the year but there is an opportunity to volunteer and help others in Ramadan. While on the one hand, customers are surprised to see goods being sold at such cheap rates in Naranjan's shop, shopkeepers are worried about the effect the slashed prices are having on their sales. Singh owns a decades-old grocery store located in Jamrud Bazaar where food items are sold without profit every year out of reverence for the month of Ramadan. Despite the discounts, the Sikh shopkeeper has to pay out-of-pocket expenses for shop rent and wages of labourers due to the forgoing of profits in Ramadan — a generous move highly appreciated by the buyers. Singh is therefore a role model in a society where businessmen are often involved in price gouging as well as hoarding essential food items.