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By:

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.

Influencer Idiocy

The arrest of Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra for dallying with Pakistani intelligence operatives is much more than a serious embarrassment against the backdrop of a full-blown India-Pakistan crisis. Better known for her chirpy travel reels than for sound judgment, Malhotra’s arrest is a window into the astonishing naiveté and wilful recklessness of a new tribe of digital ‘influencers’ who flirt with national security like it’s just another clickbait opportunity. Her case is an ignoble cautionary tale in a time when soft power, disinformation and psychological warfare are just as potent as drones and missiles being hurled across the border by our hostile neighbour.


Malhotra, whose claim to fame was wandering around exotic locales and vlogging about them for her audience, has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for consorting with Pakistani intelligence operatives. Her multiple visits to Pakistan and her presence at iftar dinners hosted by known PIOs (Pakistani Intelligence Officers) were not coincidences, if the police are to be believed.


The Indian police say she was being developed as an asset. Her financial records reportedly show travel far beyond her means, and her communications with Pakistani agents continued even during periods of heightened military tension between India and Pakistan. For a civilian vlogger with no access to classified information, this may seem trivial. It is not. Modern espionage speaks in hashtags and plays the fool on camera. That makes it all the more dangerous.


Let us dispense with the idea that Malhotra is a naïve dupe. Her repeated meetings with figures like Ehsan-ur-Rahim (alias Danish) of the Pakistan High Commission, her trips to Pakistan arranged by his contacts, and her continued contact even after terror attacks in Pahalgam, suggest more than innocent wanderlust. She was, knowingly or otherwise, amplifying the reach of a state known for subverting Indian interests.


This is not an isolated case. Just days earlier, another arrest was made in Uttar Pradesh of Shahzad, a trader-turned-ISI asset who smuggled goods across the border while feeding sensitive data to Pakistan. Like Malhotra, he travelled to Pakistan multiple times. Like her, his economic activity was disproportionate to his means. And like her, he used this dissonance to cloak intelligence work in the ordinary garb of cross-border trade or cultural tourism.


What unites these cases is a cocktail of ego, greed and stupidity. YouTubers, Instagrammers, and TikTok stars often see themselves as global citizens above politics and patriotism. Some fall into the trap of thinking that statecraft is a game for someone else to worry about while they collect likes and visa stamps. But the enemy is not playing games. Pakistan’s ISI and China’s MSS are deadly serious about using online influencers as conduits for soft-power manipulation. They seek to plant seeds of influence and disaffection where they can. The public must learn to stop romanticising influencers who gallivant to rogue states and return draped in the fig leaves of peace and pluralism.

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