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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.

RSS keen on keeping Amit Shah in the cold

The Mahayuti 2.0 cabinet cements Modi’s dominance and the RSS’s ideological oversight in Maharashtra

Amit Shah

Mumbai: The absence of ministers aligned with Home Minister Amit Shah in the new Mahayuti cabinet led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has raised eyebrows, triggering speculations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) may have moved to curtail Shah’s influence in the state.


Maharashtra expanded its cabinet on Sunday, swearing in 33 cabinet ministers and six ministers of state at Raj Bhavan in Nagpur. In keeping with the performance and contribution of each of the three Mahayuti parties in the coalition’s stunning electoral success in the Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured the lion’s share with 16 cabinet berths, followed by nine for Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and eight for the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).


The reshuffle introduced a youthful tilt, with 18 new faces joining the council while as many as 13 former ministers were dropped during the cabinet expansion that took place in Nagpur.


Notably absent from the new cabinet are individuals known to be close to Shah, a political tactician often credited with the BJP’s meteoric rise over the past decade. As per sources who spoke to The Perfect Voice, the absence of veteran BJP leader from Chandrapur Sudhir Mungantiwar, considered to be a confidante of Shah in Maharashtra, underscored this pattern.


Over the past year, tensions between Shah and the RSS have bubbled to the surface. Dattatreya Hosabale, the Sarkaryavah (of the General Secretary) of the RSS, reportedly confronted Shah over the induction of senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan into the BJP.


An apparently curt retort issued by Shah to Hosbale - “Politics is not your business. Let us do politics in our own way” - did little to endear him to the Sangh.


Relations further soured when, following a public statement by BJP President J.P. Nadda that appeared critical of the RSS, Shah sought to meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to clarify the party’s position. As per sources, Shah’s overtures were reportedly rebuffed as Bhagwat reportedly refused to meet the Home Minister, signalling a rare public rebuke to the powerful BJP satrap from the Sangh leadership.


“Amitbhai had gone to meet Mohanji at the Sangh’s Jhandewalan’s office in Delhi. Mohanji was present there but he outrightly refused to meet Amitbhai,” said a source.


Mungantiwar’s exclusion is the latest consequences of this falling-out. Earlier, the ouster of C.T. Ravi as BJP general secretary was also seen as a stern message to Shah.


The biggest confirmation of Shah’s diminishing influence came when his bete noire Devendra Fadnavis was chosen for the coveted post of Maharashtra Chief Minister. By promoting Fadnavis – a leader with whom Shah has clashed in the past – the RSS and PM Modi are reportedly sending a message about where ultimate authority lies.


The RSS, for its part, has little tolerance for figures who appear to put personal ambition above the organization’s broader ideological goals. Shah’s brusque style and political pragmatism, while effective in winning some elections, have also queered the pitch in some states where friction between the top BJP brass and the local leadership has translated into bad results for the party. This has drawn criticism from Sangh stalwarts who prefer a more consultative approach.


Modi and Shah have long been seen as the twin architects of the BJP’s dominance. Though their partnership is often described as seamless, divergences in strategy and priorities occasionally surface. Shah is known for his hard-nosed approach and backroom deals - the BJP’s principal trouble-shooter.


The RSS’s priorities often differ from those of Shah, whose realpolitik sometimes clashes with the Sangh’s ideological purism. By sidelining Shah’s allies in Maharashtra, the RSS is likely signalling its preference for a less transactional and more ideologically aligned leadership in the state.


Furthermore, with Nadda’s term as party president nearing its end, speculation is rife that the next president will be someone at odds with Shah. This is likely to curtail Shah’s influence over state BJP leaderships.

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