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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local....

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local. This reversal owes much to policy. The recent rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which trimmed rates across categories from garments to home furnishings, has given consumption a timely push. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s September rate cuts, combined with income tax relief and easing interest rates, have strengthened household budgets just as inflation softened. The middle class, long squeezed between rising costs and stagnant wages, has found reason to spend again. Retailers report that shoppers filled their bags with everything from lab-grown diamonds and casual wear to consumer durables and décor, blurring the line between necessity and indulgence. The effect has been broad-based. According to Crisil Ratings, 40 organised apparel retailers, who together generate roughly a third of the sector’s revenue, could see growth of 13–14 percent this financial year, aided by a 200-basis-point bump from GST cuts alone. Small traders too have flourished. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates that 85 percent of total festive trade came from non-corporate and traditional markets, a robust comeback for brick-and-mortar retail that had been under siege from online rivals. This surge signals a subtle but significant cultural shift. The “Vocal for Local” and “Swadeshi Diwali” campaigns struck a patriotic chord, with consumers reportedly preferring Indian-made products to imported ones. Demand for Chinese goods fell sharply, while sales of Indian-manufactured products rose by a quarter over last year. For the first time in years, “buying Indian” has become both an act of economic participation and of national pride. The sectoral spread of this boom underlines its breadth. Groceries and fast-moving consumer goods accounted for 12 percent of the total, gold and jewellery 10 percent, and electronics 8 percent. Even traditionally modest categories like home furnishings, décor and confectionery recorded double-digit growth. In the smaller towns that anchor India’s consumption story, traders say stable prices and improved affordability kept registers ringing late into the festive weekend. Yet, much of this buoyancy rests on a fragile equilibrium. Inflation remains contained, and interest rates have been eased, but both could tighten again. Sustaining this spurt will require continued fiscal prudence and regulatory clarity, especially as digital commerce continues to expand its reach. Yet for now, the signs are auspicious. After years of subdued demand and inflationary unease, India’s shoppers appear to have rediscovered their appetite for consumption and their faith in domestic enterprise. The result is not only a record-breaking Diwali, but a reaffirmation of the local marketplace as the heartbeat of India’s economy.

A beeline for NCP (SP)

THE PARTY IS SEEING AN INFLUX OF SENIOR LEADERS FROM WESTERN MAHARASHTRA AND MARATHWADA


WESTERN MAHARASHTRA AND MARATHWADA

Mumbai: A popular joke doing the rounds is that Sharad Pawar has been on a shopping spree of Western Maharashtra and Marathwada, picking up local strongmen and putting them into his kitty—the NCP (SP). Over the past few weeks, on the heels of the party’s sparkling show at the Lok Sabha polls and the possibility of a return to power after the Vidhan Sabha elections, politicians from different parties are jumping onto the senior Pawar’s bandwagon. Harshvardhan Patil, after a stint with the BJP, has returned to the fold and was immediately inducted into the party’s parliamentary committee. Other big names to swear allegiance to the NCP’s patriarch are Samarjeet Ghatge of Kagal, Ajit Gavhane, Naik, Laxman Dhoble, former guardian minister of Solapur, Ramesh Thorat from Daund and Rajendra Mhaske, a former BJP man from Beed. 


More than 20 prominent politicians have joined the party in the past few weeks in the run-up to the Vidhan Sabha elections. “There is a two-way engagement with those who want to join the party. Over the course of the past few months, we have understood that we have to work twice as hard to replicate the success of the Lok Sabha elections. This requires a consolidation of all those voices who are speaking out against the current government. On the other side, scores of leaders are disillusioned, and have sought to leave parties that they have been part of. I am grateful they have chosen us, the NCP (SP) as their home today,” says Anish Gawande, national spokesperson, NCP (SP). 


It’s no secret that senior leaders with a mass base have joined the party with an eye on a nomination. However, not all can be accommodated. The understanding, says Gawande, was clear. “Leaders are judged on merit and then given responsibilities. Every candidacy is dependent on electoral merit,” he says. The rule has been applied to those who have returned from the Ajit Pawar faction and also those who have come in from other parties with divergent and contrasting ideologies. 


Political watchers, however, claim that this isn’t an election of sentiment or ideology. Another NCP (SP) leader who doesn’t want to be named, says that this election needs mass leaders who can get the voters out because these polls will be dependent only on the numbers. That’s the number one criterion. Apart from balancing the caste equations, which are on the boil with the ongoing Maratha reservation agitation. “We have to rely on mass leaders who can get the voters out,” he says. 


Ideologies and affiliations don’t matter. They are knocking at Pawar’s door with hopes of getting a nomination for the elections or a promise of good prospects later. Many switched sides after realising that their chances of contesting from their original parties were slim, given the peculiar alliances that Maharashtra has recently seen. Samarjeet Ghatge, on realising that the BJP has had to relinquish its claim to the Kagal seat for the NCP’s Hasan Mushrif, switched to the NCP (SP) in a grand public gathering. BJP leader Ganesh Naik stays with the BJP while his son Sandeep, who was denied a nomination by the BJP from Belapur, returned to the NCP(SP). 


The crossing over works well for both sides. While politicians get a chance to retain their hold over their constituencies by getting a shot at winning the polls, the party gets a leader with a strong bloc of grassroots workers. 


The inflow has been carefully selected. Consolidate is the buzzword as the party is strengthening its base and force by inducting local leaders who can give the party a boost in various regions. Throughout its lifetime, the undivided NCP had western Maharashtra as its stronghold. But with the departure of sitting legislators, the NCP (SP) is now in the process of bringing in new people to retain its bastion of western Maharashtra and is also spreading its wings across Marathwada. 


The party, however, dismisses claims of smart strategies to consolidate its voter base. “There is anger among the people given the agrarian crisis and the way this government is handling the matter,” says Gawande.

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