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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.

Goa rocks to IFFI and SFX

Updated: Nov 29, 2024

IFFI and SFX

The stretch along the Mandovi from Goa’s capital, Panaji, to Old Goa is a beehive of activity thanks to two mega events. Both interestingly started on the same day, with the International Film Festival of India or IFFI beginning 21 November, and 6 kms or so along the iconic river, relics of the 16 th century saint, Francis Xavier (SFX) being brought down from its mausoleum in a section of an iconic church, Bom Jesus, and then carried ceremoniously across the road to a nearby church for veneration.


Both events have brought people in their hundreds from all over the world and India to Goa. Attending the film festival, this writer saw filmmakers and cinephiles from all over India. There were students of cinema from as far as Tripura, and Coimbatore, Delhi, Kerala and Chennai. The festival began with the screening of the movie, Better Man, a musical based on the life of the British singer and song writer, Robbie Williams. Essaying the role of the singer was an actor who added his human voice to a computer-generated image of a monkey which was a way that film director Michael Gracey, attempted to portray Williams after he apparently asked him “If you were an animal, how would you see yourself?”


The movie opened at Inox, Panaji, the permanent IFFI venue. This is the 20 th IFFI edition which moved to Goa in 2004. This time around, movies are also being shown in Madgaum, Goa’s business capital as well as in Ponda in the hinterland, thus enabling many locals to see some of India’s best films and documentaries. Film director, the well-known Shekar Kapur, best known for Masoom was present to inaugurate the event, and also joined other international film directors to moderate a panel discussion.


Queues of similar length could be seen at Old Goa where devotees lining up to see the relics. It has been reported that Governor and Chief Minister of the state offered prayers at the relics in the morning before the main event commenced. It is to the credit of the state government that it has pulled out all stops to ensure that the event runs smoothly. Transportation arrangements include special buses by the state-owned transport from Panjim to Old Goa. There has also been a special stamp cancellation to commemorate this one in a decade event.


The banks of the Mandovi are now alight with lights adorning the street lamp posts and trees that line the roads that run along the city’s periphery all the way to Miramar beach.


Both the IFFI and the exposition of the relics will segue into events and merry-making leading up to Christmas and the New Year. Recently, a venue was announced for Sunburn a popular music festival that has run into controversy for its impact on the state’s fragile environment as well as the fact that it allegedly encourages a drug culture. Many locals are now increasingly vocal about the fact that the environment suffers the most and also, the state known for its clean environs has seen a big deterioration in air quality with a real-time AQI of 144 which is poor rating. This is an area of concern for a state that wants to attract quality tourists and also preserve a way of life in harmony with nature.


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

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