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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.

England’s Swashbuckling Swagger Sinks into a Snooze-Fest

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How the mighty have fallen—or rather, how the mighty have been forced to sit down, sip some chamomile tea, and play like it’s 1995. England’s Bazball revolution, that testosterone-fueled, chest-thumping, boundary-bashing philosophy, got a proper spanking at Lord’s this week in the India vs. England Test. On a slow, dry pitch that looked like it was plotting to turn into the Sahara by day five, England’s batters were reduced to prodding and poking like nervous accountants at a tax audit. Three runs an over? Is this cricket or a funeral procession?


Let’s set the scene. Lord’s, the so-called Home of Cricket, was dressed up in its Sunday best, ready to host another chapter of Bazball’s Greatest Hits. Except, someone forgot to tell the pitch it was supposed to be a flat belter for England’s cavaliers to plunder. Instead, it turned up like a grumpy uncle at a family reunion—dry, uncooperative, and ready to make everyone miserable. India’s spinners, led by the wily Washington Sundar, who probably spent the night whispering dark spells into the turf, licked their lips and got to work. The result? England’s batters, usually swinging like pirates in a rum-soaked tavern brawl, were tamed into submission, crawling along at a run rate that made Geoffrey Boycott look like Glenn Maxwell.


The Bazball faithful in the stands must have been gutted. They came expecting pyrotechnics—Joe Root reverse-scooping Jasprit Bumrah for six, Ben Stokes charging down the track to loft Ravindra Jadeja into the Mound Stand. Instead, they got Zak Crawley poking at deliveries like he was defusing a bomb, and Ben Duckett playing with the intensity of a man choosing wallpaper samples. Three runs an over? I’ve seen faster scoring in a chess match. The Long Room probably started serving decaf just to match the vibe.


Let’s talk about the culprits. The pitch, for one, deserves a stern talking-to. It was so slow and dry it could’ve doubled as a set for a Mad Max reboot. Every ball seemed to take an eternity to reach the batter, giving India’s spinners enough time to solve a Rubik’s Cube between deliveries. Jadeja, with that devilish grin, was tossing up deliveries that spun like a politician dodging a question. Poor Ollie Pope looked like he was trying to read Sanskrit while facing him, his bat waving around like a white flag.


Then there’s England’s own Bazball bravado, which, let’s be honest, has always been one bad day away from looking like a midlife crisis. The philosophy—attack everything, fear nothing—works when the pitch is flatter than a pancake and the bowlers are spraying it like a toddler with a garden hose. But on a Lord’s track that’s turning like a corkscrew? Good luck, lads. Stokes, the ginger general, tried to rally the troops with his usual “let’s smack it and see what happens” vibe, but even he ended up playing a forward defensive that would’ve made Alastair Cook shed a tear of pride. The irony? England’s most aggressive captain since Douglas Jardine was forced to channel his inner tortoise.


India, meanwhile, were loving every minute of it. Shubman Gill, sipping chai in the slips, was probably composing a victory poem in his head. Bumrah, with that slingshot action, was unplayable, sending down yorkers that had England’s batters questioning their life choices. And don’t get me started on Jadeja, who was spinning the ball so much it looked like it had its own GPS. India didn’t just outbowl England; they outsmarted them, outfoxed them, and probably out-tangoed them in the team hotel’s dance-off the night before.


So, where does Bazball go from here? Do they double down, come out swinging, and risk looking like lunatics on a pitch that’s crumbling faster than a digestive biscuit? Or do they admit that sometimes, just sometimes, a bit of old-school Test cricket nous might be the way to go? Knowing Stokes, he’ll probably try to reverse-sweep a bouncer on day four just to prove a point. But for now, Bazball’s been muted, its volume turned down from 11 to a whimpering 2. Lord’s, that grand old stage, has spoken: even the brashest of revolutions can’t always bully a pitch into submission.


And as for India? They’re probably back at the hotel, toasting their dominance with mango lassi and plotting how to make England’s batters cry again. Bazball, you’ve been served. Time to dust off the old textbook and remember how to grind. Or, you know, just pray for rain.


(The writer is a senior journalist based in Mumbai.)

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