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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.

Now, Ajit Dada of NCP

Updated: Nov 25, 2024

NCP

Mumbai: The NCP chief Ajit Pawar has strengthened his position in the Mahayuti not only by winning 41 seats but with an impressive strike rate of 65 per cent. This performance has put the full stop on the whispering of whether Ajit Pawar is still relevant for Mahayuti.


The ruling alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar was ahead in 231 of the state’s 288 seats. Within the Mahayuti, it is the BJP that is ahead; the saffron party is leading in 132 of the 149 seats it is contesting. The Shinde Sena is ahead in 55 of the 81 it is contesting and Ajit Pawar’s NCP 40 of 59.


Considering the figures BJP and Shiv Sena can easily form the government. However, the BJP leadership is in no mood to upset the alliance. Nevertheless, the RSS has some reservations about Ajit Pawar. But the BJP has decided to continue with the three-party alliance even in future. Ajit Pawar’s clout in Western Maharashtra especially in the sugar belt cannot be overlooked and in this backdrop BJP will not desert NCP.


The MVA - decimated after claiming victory in the Lok Sabha election this year, in which it won 30 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. This time around the MVA managed to get only 52 seats. Its solo show aside, the BJP will still need both the Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar’s seats to cross the two third majority mark. And it is those two that will put its larger ally out of reach of the MVA. Overall, the Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar are on course to win 95 seats.


The Mahayuti is en route to a record win in the Maharashtra Assembly election, in which no alliance has ever crossed the magic 200-seat mark. In the Mahayuti, the Shinde Sena and the BJP appear to be at odds on the same issue, with the former batting for Shinde to continue and the latter pitching Fadnavis, who was the Chief Minister when the BJP and (then) undivided Sena were in power between 2014 and 2019. The NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar has thrown its hat in the ring too, on the back of hopes it will emerge as the ‘kingmaker’. However, a clear-cut verdict has ruled out this possibility.


Ajit has been considered to be the weakest link of the Mahayuti alliance since its formation and all through the seat-sharing talks for the election. The taunts along this line have come mostly from leaders of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP who claimed the patriarch’s nephew “betrayed” the family only to end up in a “weak position” in Mahayuti.

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