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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.

Agrarian Crisis Issue Again

Agrarian Crisis Issue Again

Yet, another story of the government’s apathy towards the agrarian community. Burdened by the debt and unable to come out of this precarious situation, many farmers in the state turn to suicide. They took this extreme step saying that no option was left before them.


With a view to reduce the number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, the state government finally took the decision to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme of Rs 150 per beneficiary per month instead of foodgrains, from January, 2023 to all APL (Above Poverty Line) saffron cardholder farmers of drought prone 14 districts which includes all the districts of Aurangabad and Amravati divisions and Wardha in Nagpur division.


After the brainstorming sessions, the GR about this was issued on February 28, 2023. As per the increase in minimum support price every year, according to the provisions of the Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rules, 2015 notified by the Central Government, the revised incremental cash amount was to be directly transferred to the beneficiary every year. According to the provisions mentioned in to the G.R., a total amount of Rs 179.87 crore has been made available to the concerned districts for the period of January 2023 to March 2023 and amount of 168.75 crore has been made available for the period of April 2023 to June 2023.


Accordingly, the process of depositing the cash amount in the beneficiary’s bank account started. Though there were some glitches it started smoothly. But very shortly the government started receiving complaints about the non-payment. The farmers became furious and took the issue to the streets. However, protests and agitation fell on deaf ears of the government.


Significantly, the bureaucracy was prompt to show a number of excuses for non-payment. According to them spelling errors in Aadhaar details, incorrect seeding of citizen’s Aadhaar and bank account, pending KYC and frozen or blocked bank accounts, network failures, biometric authentication failures, point-of-sale (PoS) device malfunctioning are some of the prominent reasons for payment failures in DBT. Sad part of the story is the government accepted the explanation tendered by officials.


Amid an erratic weather pattern, cases of farmer suicides in Maharashtra continued even this year. The state alone reported around 557 such incidents in the last six months. The government has so far provided assistance to 53 families, while 284 cases are pending for investigation. Most of the farmer suicides have been reported from the Amravati division of Maharashtra. Suicides have been reported in five districts - Akola, Buldhana, Washim, Yavatmal, Amravati from January to June this year. Amravati district tops the chart with 170 suicide cases.


The DBT scheme failed and the government decision to scrap the scheme has only added to their woos.

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