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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.

Congress sends a signal in Thorat’s promotion

Congress sends a signal in Thorat’s promotion

Mumbai: The visits of senior Congressman Balasaheb Thorat with Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday has set tongues wagging in political circles. Many believe that the party’s decision to anoint Thorat as its chief negotiator indicates that he would be the top contender for the Chief Minister’s post if The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) returns to the power.


Though few Congress leaders rubbished the rumours stating that almost all negotiations have been complete and that they are all set to announce the final list of candidates any day now, sources within the party claim that the reason Thorat has been given all powers because not only is he more accessible to all alliance partners and has a clean image free of controversies but also because ethe party High Command is projecting him as a possible Chief Ministerial candidate in case the Congress party wins more seats in the polls.


“Thorat comes from Western Maharashtra and is in good terms with Pawarsaheb. He had also increased the party’s tally in the last polls. Hence it is obvious like someone like him should be in talks with the stature of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackaray. No one wants to interact with Prithviraj Chavan because he doesn’t have the credentials of Thorat,” said a NCP leader on conditions of anonymity.


Nizamuddin Rayen, Spokesperson for Mumbai Regional Congress Committee though prefers to differ. “All negotiations have all been done and completed. All four leaders of the party Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, and Balasaheb Thorat have been involved in the negotiations and talks. The reason Prithvirajji isn’t much seen is because he has been given the task of creating the party manifesto,” he says adding that due to the Haryana results, the Congress party is taking Maharashtra very seriously and have appointment two external senior leaders, one ex CM and another a senior leader of the party in every division of the assembly constituencies.


“The Congress is a party which has many leaders who are both astute experienced and have a rich understanding of politics and coalition politics of Maharashtra. So, there is nothing much to read on who is being picked and who is not being picked,” says Nadeem Nusrath, General Secretary of Mumbai Congress and Spokesperson for Maharashtra.


“Balasaheb Thorat’s name is going around maybe because there others who are being given some other duties. Prithviraj Chahan is already preoccupied with writing the party manifesto which is also the most crucial job in an election.


There is Varsha Gaikwad,  who has caught the imagination of the Maharashtra voter by her Mumbai Nyay Yatra. All of these people are working as a team. And this team is going to deliver the results whatever matters in the end. It is not the question of who is good and who is bad in negotiations, it is just this that they are being utilised at the same time. They are all first among the equals.”

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