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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 tiger safari in Goa?

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It’s difficult to imagine going to Goa for, of all things, a tiger safari. A tiger safari is associated with places like Tadoba National park in Maharashtra, Corbett or Dudhwa national park in the Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh. Yet if the people of Goa had their way, the Mhadei Wildlife in North Goa could be the country’s 56th Tiger Reserve. But the government is yet to notify the area as such despite demands of the state’s environmentalists and the fact that the National Tiger Conservation Authority which does tiger censuses, has asked the state government to declare Mhadei as a tiger reserve based on the numbers of tigers seen.


The Mhadei sanctuary is located in Valpoi village, 40 km from Panaji, the state’s capital. Spread over 208 sq. km. It plays a key part in the preservation of the biodiversity of the Western Ghats.


So to support the people’s wishes, it appears the tigers themselves made an unexpected appearance recently. Reports suggest that a tigress and three cubs were seen at Chorla ghat. Their presence was confirmed through night vision cameras installed by the forest department. A local news report suggested that tiger faeces were seen. This is, therefore, credible evidence that the Mhadei sanctuary is located in a tiger belt that connects the animal’s habitats in neighbouring states.


Any environmentalist would tell you that these magnificent creatures respect no state or human-made boundaries. Yet, it remains to be seen why the authorities are dragging their feet on declaring Mhadei reserve as a tiger sanctuary and preserving for generations, India’s national animal.


This writer had the privilege of meeting Billy Arjan Singh as a young Reader’s Digest researcher way back in 1992 at Dudhwa national park which itself was set up thanks to the efforts of Singh who was once a hunter but turned to conservation. He did his best to save the tigers from, ironically, human predators, and won international accolades for his work. Singh wrote many books on his experiences trying to save the tiger, and among his most popular is Tiger Haven,


It is not as if declaring Mhadei as a tiger sanctuary will mean tourists will start to make a beeline for the area. It’s still the beaches that largely draw visitors to this state. Yet by declaring Mhadei as a tiger reserve, we give our national animal a chance to live longer on the sub-continent, and enthral us for many more decades to come. Under Project Tiger, the numbers of this animal are estimated at over 3600 tigers in the wild. We need to do everything to preserve the tiger’s habitats, and give them a chance to live in peaceful co-existence with humans.


(The author is a senior journalist based in Goa. Views personal.)

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