The fire brigade rushed 16 fire engines to the spot.

"There are no injuries as of yet. The fire occurred in a transformer unit of BEST. The fire was brought under control within an hour,” said a fire brigade official.

In November last year, a major fire had gutted more than 2,000 shops in Sara Sahara market and Manish market in the vicinity.

Although talks were rife about a possible sabotage fire brigade officials had confirmed the cause of fire to be a short circuit.

Major fire in market, 2,000 shops gutted: Last year in late November more than 2000 shops were gutted when the fire engulfed the popular market and Saara Sahara market on Mohammad Ali Road in South Mumbai. Although there were no casualties, the losses have been estimated at nearly Rs 200 crore.

The fire, which began in the wee hours destroyed five markets in the vicinity including, Saara Sahara shopping complex, Manish market, Yaara shopping complex, Munim Compound, and Greenhouse building, said Manisha Mhaiskar, Additional Municipal Commissioner.

While the cause of the fire is still not known, fire officials said that the fire which seems to have originated from the Saara-Sahara complex later spread to Manish market due to the heavy congestion of electric cables and the wind.

According to the fire department, the fire had broken out around 3.40 am and the cooling operations continued till late at night. At least 34 fire tenders and 20 water tankers and two ambulances had been rushed to the scene to control the blaze which took over 15 hours to be doused.

The five markets which are spread over an area of about 15,000 sq metre are known for their electronic consumer goods, cosmetics, clothing market, glass items, gadgets and gizmos.

The cause of the fire was not known. Civic officials and the businessman associations' in the market estimate the total industry losses at Rs 150-200 crore.

Officials said the markets which are visited by over a lakh people everyday are known for goods at throwaway prices and are amongst the oldest in the city.