MUMBAI: What’s Diwali with out sweets? And what’s kaju katli or gulab jamun with out its silver varakh (foil)? Forward of Diwali, many candy outlets are dealing with a scarcity of the varakh as silver value has been hovering, touching Rs 1.9 lakh a kg within the spot market Tuesday.It’s a bittersweet second for outlets because it comes amid cheer over discount in GST on sweets to five%. Whereas not all outlets can shell out large cash to purchase the varakh, most try to not go on the value hike to shoppers.Mumbai’s Parsi Dairy Farm has determined to not improve the value of sweets although the price of the varakh it buys has shot up 10-15%, mentioned its MD Bakhtyar Okay Irani. To deal with the state of affairs, Delhi’s Khoya Mithai is, in some instances, remodeling design to scale back utilization of silver, mentioned its founder Sid Mathur.The worth of a silver varakh has gone as much as Rs 8 from Rs 5 final Diwali, mentioned Shivam Bhagat, proprietor at Agra’s over two-century-old Bhagat Halwai. “Whereas the GST cuts are a optimistic transfer, fluctuations in costs of commodities are hurting companies,” he added.