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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.

Running SP As His Fiefdom

Updated: Nov 25, 2024

SP

In Maharashtra, the Samajwadi Party is known only by one man—Abu Asim Azmi. The party may well be led by the Yadav family, but outside of its home turf, Uttar Pradesh, the SP has a presence in Maharashtra, largely due to the efforts of Azmi. The politician has had a controversial career, first jumping into the spotlight for his arrest under the stringent TADA or Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in the early 1990s. He was arrested for allegedly arranging flight tickets for a man who was accused in the 1993 bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai city. After spending two years in jail, he was acquitted and that paved the way for his career in politics.


Mulayam Singh Yadav, then the president of the SP, appointed Azmi as the party president in Maharashtra, recognising the following Azmi had gathered among the Muslims hailing from the north of India but residing in Maharashtra. In its first election in Maharashtra, the SP, led by Azmi, won three assembly seats but the MLAs didn’t stay in the party for long. Azmi was accused of being authoritarian and dictatorial in his working style. With no other senior leader in Maharashtra, he treated the party as his fiefdom. But the leadership believed that Azmi could bring them results and sent him to the Rajya Sabha in 2002. He contested by lost the 2004 state assembly elections but won from Mankhurd, a Muslim-majority constituency in 2009 and is currently an MLA from Mankhurd.


Even as a member of the legislative assembly, Azmi’s career has been stormy. He’s been a polarising figure known for making intemperate statements. He even got into a physical fight with MLAs from Raj Thackeray’s MNS a few years ago. He had a fall out with party colleague Rais Shaikh who was known to be a more moderate and progressive face. Nawab Mallik, who contested against him from Mankhurd this time, has time and again, accused Azmi of allowing a drug trade to flourish under his watch. Although he claims to fight ‘fascist forces’ in Maharashtra, his speeches have always been polarising.


Azmi’s son Farhan unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai and since then has withdrawn from active politics. He focuses on running his restaurants along with his wife Ayesha Takia, a former actress. In 2018, an FIR was filed against Farhan for cheating but he was granted pre-arrest bail. The 2024 assembly elections may prove to be crucial for Azmi as he faces two prominent candidates from Mankhurd. The party has lost most of his known faces who have accused Azmi of running the party as a ‘private limited company’.

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