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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.

Once neglected, voters in high-rise buildings on candidates’ list

Updated: Nov 15, 2024

Bala Nandgaonkar

Mumbai: In the last four months, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Bala Nandgaonkar has visited the high end Parel based Ashok Tower four times holding interactions with the residents.

Ashok Tower has more than 600 families and would be hosting a polling booth in its premises. Nandgaonkar is currently the MNS candidate from the Shivadi constituency where he is fighting a pitched battle against Shiv Sena candidate Ajay Chaudhari.


This is the part of the current trend where the candidates are busy wooing the tower residents. This is especially due to the twin factors....increased participation in voting by the residents living in skyscrapers and shrinking winning margins where a couple of votes are capable of tilting the scales.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) in its initiative to boost the voting process has allowed 709 housing societies to host polling booths in their own premises.


Sarika Poddar, secretary, Ashok Tower Housing society who was instrumental for following up with the ECI to set the booth said that this move will boost the voting percentage in high rises. “The residents of high rises are now becoming increasingly assertive and are demanding accountability from the local representatives. Due to the booths in the society premises, we will see more residents exercising their franchise this time,” said Poddar. There are more than 1300 voters in Ashok Tower.


Dhaval Shah, chairman, Lokhandwala-Oshiwara Citizens’ Association, consisting over 150 societies described it a consolidation of the middle and rich class voters. “We have issues like conveyance of buildings, parking, water shortage and traffic congestion. The politicians who neglected us till date are now wooing us with gusto,” said Shah.


For years, politicians focused exclusively on slum and chawl voters and hardly looked at the towers.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) led in 158 assembly segments in Maharashtra while the ruling Mahayuti led in 125. The winning margins of 16 seats of MVA were less than 5000 votes while in Mahayuti, 15 seats have less than 5000 margin.


In fact, Shinde Shiv Sena candidate Ravindra Waikar won the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat by a meager 48 votes in a nail-biting finish.


Waikar’s wife Manisha who is fighting the Jogeshwari assembly seat from Shinde Sena said that they have always been amenable to the residents of high rises. “We had set up Matoshree club, the first of its kind recreation club in Western suburbs for the people of this area. In addition, we set up aerobics centre as well as state of art gymnasiums for them,” said Manisha Waikar.


There has been mushrooming of towers across Mumbai due to the large-scale revamp taking place where chawls and small buildings are replaced by high rises. In addition, there has been upward mobility of the residents to these skyscrapers.


Surendra Srivastava-National President, Loksatta movement and Board member, Foundation of Democratic Reforms said such assertiveness is fuelled by the social media. “The middle class has created a narrative where they are demanding that their voice be heard. The politicians can no longer neglect this section which is increasingly demanding answers from the politicos,” said Srivastava.

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