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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.

Rusty Governance

Each monsoon, Maharashtra’s Western Ghats don their finest as mist curls over dark green ridges, waterfalls roar to life and families rush to picnic spots like Maval, Mulshi or Lonavla. But with dependable regularity, these scenic marvels inevitably become the site of preventable tragedy. Pune district’s verdant Kundamala in Maval taluka was the site of the latest calamity which occurred when an old iron bridge spanning the Indrayani River collapsed under the weight of over 150 visitors. Four people have officially been declared dead. Eighteen are grievously injured. Others remain missing. The state’s response, so far, has been an exasperating combination of hand-wringing and hollow promises.


The government, as usual, was nowhere before the tragedy and everywhere after. Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief minister Ajit Pawar blamed rust and overcrowding. Disaster Management Minister Girish Mahajan blamed the crowd, observing the bridge was meant for pedestrians only. He insinuated that the dead had brought this upon themselves. But who was responsible for keeping a rusting, decades-old bridge intact - or closing it down if it was no longer safe? Whose job was it to regulate crowd control at a well-known tourist site that draws hundreds every weekend during the monsoon?


One cannot heap responsibility solely on the last motorcyclist who ventured across a visibly decaying span. This is an unpardonable failure of governance at every level. The bridge was 30 years old, visibly corroded and vulnerable to swelling waters and human pressure. Yet, the flush-with-funds Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will deflect blame saying the area does not fall under its jurisdiction. Tenders had apparently been cleared for a new bridge, but rains had delayed construction - a paltry excuse in a region that receives monsoon downpours every year. The collector had even issued advisories against venturing near water bodies. But when did a PDF file on an official website ever stop people from crossing a bridge with no police presence and no barricades?


It is telling that no preventive infrastructure was in place despite the state’s own classification of Kundamala as a vulnerable monsoon site. This is bureaucratic apathy masquerading as helplessness. The absence of police deployment during the peak of the picnic season reflects not ignorance but indifference. Officials cannot claim surprise when predictable risks in form of old bridges and surging crowds lead to predictable consequences.


That the bridge collapsed does not absolve the public from the responsibility of basic caution. Each year brings reports of drownings and of waterfalls sweeping away hikers. Despite past tragedies, thrill-seekers and selfie-hunters routinely ignore the risks. But it is the state’s institutions that must shoulder the greater burden of blame. Offering ex gratia cheques and promising medical care is the minimum. What about ensuring that no such payouts are needed next time?


If Maharashtra cannot protect its own citizens from foreseeable dangers at home, then it is not the public that is to blame for venturing out. It is the government that has forgotten to govern.

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