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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.

Murderous Neighbour

Even as India targeted terror with surgical precision, Pakistan answered with savagery. Hours after Indian forces executed ‘Operation Sindoor’ - a swift, 25-minute operation that demolished nine terror strongholds of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Pakistani artillery pounded Indian border villages. 15 civilians, including children, were killed while 43 others were injured. This was no act of military retaliation. It was a clear massacre.


India’s strike was a controlled retaliation for the Pahalgam barbarity where 26 innocent civilians were slaughtered by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. India’s strike was a clean, targeted blow which took care not to escalate matters further. Not a single Pakistani military installation was touched. And yet, even as India showed poise, the Pakistani Army resorted to its oldest and ugliest habit – the indiscriminate shelling of civilians.


This was the 14th consecutive day of ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the LoC. But this time, it crossed a blood-soaked line. The Pakistani military’s shelling, described as some of the most intense in years, was clearly timed to project outrage and frustration over India’s neutralisation of terrorist assets that have been operating with impunity under the Pakistani state’s protective gaze.


India has every reason to be angry. The restraint our country showed in ‘Operation Sindoor’ was strategic, meant to remind the world that New Delhi was not seeking war but justice for the unprovoked slaughter of innocent tourists in Pahalgam. Yet this very act of calculated moderation was met with indiscriminate carnage from across the border.


The Pakistani establishment continues to act as both arsonist and fireman - hosting, arming and directing terror groups with one hand while invoking victimhood with the other. That Pakistan still plays host to jihadist franchises as if they were embassies is damning enough. That it mourns their demolition not with shame, but with chest-thumping outrage speaks volumes about its perfidy.


India’s calibrated response must now evolve. India cannot let the death of these innocent civilians go unanswered. It should not be filed away as ‘collateral damage.’ A rogue state that sends artillery fire into border villages, murdering schoolchildren and civilians, must be made to understand the cost of such cowardice. The message, sent by Pakistan was that it would strike the defenceless when its terror proxies are hit. If New Delhi swallows this, it tells Rawalpindi that civilian lives are cheap and that Indian patience is limitless, even in the face of butchery.


With ‘Operation Sindoor,’ New Delhi signalled that it no longer considers terror a cost of diplomacy. But with the slaughter of civilians along the LoC, India must demonstrate sternly to Islamabad that its future responses will not be so restrained. The world must see this latest episode for what it is: a state-sponsored assault on civilians in retaliation for the destruction of terror infrastructure. Pakistan has betrayed its own pretensions of peace. The blood of Indian children now stains its hands. And India should neither forget nor forgive.

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