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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.

Gutter Politics

At a moment when India finds itself in the throes of geopolitical turbulence in a conflict triggered by Pakistan, a senior BJP minister has chosen to pour petrol on the flames. Kunwar Vijay Shah, a tribal affairs minister in Madhya Pradesh and a serial offender in the art of disgrace, has sullied not just the decorum of his office but the honour of India’s armed forces.


Speaking at a public event, Shah referred to Colonel SofiyaQureishi, one of the Army’s most visible faces during the Operation Sindoor briefings, as the “sister of terrorists.”


The Madhya Pradesh High Court, with commendable speed, took suo motu cognisance of the matter, calling Shah’s words “language of the gutters” and ordering that he be booked under multiple sections of the new criminal code including those relating to undermining national integrity and fomenting communal discord. The Court noted with judicial clarity that Shah’s innuendo targeted Qureishi solely for her faith. That this slander was aimed at an Army officer reveals not only the minister’s moral bankruptcy but also his political illiteracy.


India’s armed forces have long stood apart from the divisions that cleave its society.


Colonel Qureishi, a decorated officer, represents the highest ideals of military service - courage, discipline and selfless duty. To reduce her to her faith is not just an insult to her personally, but to the institution she serves. The Indian Army has long prided itself on being a secular, apolitical force that binds the nation. It is ironic and tragic that at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had carefully calibrated a muscular yet measured message through Operation Sindoor, aimed squarely at Pakistan’s terror infrastructure, that effort has now been undermined from within. Vijay Shah’s remarks inject sectarian poison into what should be a moment of national solidarity.


This is not the first time Shah has played the demagogue, a man whose tongue routinely betrays his responsibilities. In 2013, he had to resign from the cabinet over lewd remarks about women in his own party. In 2024, he suggested Hema Malini’s face alone could drive financial savings among the masses. And now, with the country burying its dead from Pahalgam and rallying behind its uniformed forces, Shah chose to drag a senior Army officer through the communal mud.


To disparage a Muslim officer, despite her valour, suggests to the public that Muslims cannot be trusted even when they are defending India. Sacking Vijay Shah is not a test of BJP’s damage-control machinery but a test of its spine. If the ruling party has any real commitment to national unity and the dignity of its armed forces, Vijay Shah must be dismissed immediately. In times of crisis, leaders ought to rise to the occasion. Instead, Shah has dug deeper into the mire.


Vijay Shah is a liability to the republic. Strip him of his title. Do it not for political optics, but for the soul of the nation.

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