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....

min read

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.

Shardul Thakur: A Masterclass in Mediocrity

Waleed Hussain
Jun 29
3 min read

Shardul Thakur, the self-proclaimed “Lord” of Indian cricket, how you’ve blessed us with your dazzling display of utter incompetence in the first Test against England at Headingley in 2025. The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy opener was a stage set for heroes, yet you, dear Shardul, chose to audition for the role of court jester. Your performance was a tragicomedy, a spectacular implosion that left Indian fans clutching their heads and England’s batsmen chuckling into their tea cups. Let’s dissect this masterpiece of misery, shall we?

India, under the fresh captaincy of Shubman Gill, arrived in Leeds with a squad brimming with promise. The retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had ushered in a new era, and Thakur, the so-called all-rounder, was handed a golden ticket to prove his worth. After all, he’d smashed an unbeaten 122 in an intra-squad game, bamboozled a few top-order batsmen with his bowling, and strutted into the Test side as the lone pace-bowling all-rounder. The selectors must have thought they’d unearthed a diamond. Instead, they got a lump of coal.

Let’s start with the batting, shall we? India’s first innings was a run-fest, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant piling on centuries to reach 471. Thakur, batting at No. 8, had the perfect platform to showcase his much-vaunted lower-order grit. What did he deliver? A princely 1 run off 8 balls, caught by Jamie Smith off Ben Stokes. Bravo, Shardul! A single run—truly the stuff of legends. Perhaps he was too busy admiring the Headingley clouds to bother with trivialities like scoring runs. In the second innings, with India aiming to set a daunting target, Thakur upped his game to a staggering 4 runs off 12 balls, nicking one to Joe Root off Josh Tongue. Four whole runs! One wonders if he was practicing for the village cricket league instead of a Test match. India’s lower order collapsed like a house of cards, losing 6 wickets for 31 runs, and Thakur’s contribution was as substantial as a puff of smoke.

Now, let’s turn to his bowling, the supposed “golden arm” that breaks partnerships and turns games. In England’s first innings, Thakur bowled 6 overs, conceding 38 runs without a single wicket. His economy rate was a generous 6.33, as if he were hosting a charity run-donation drive for England’s batsmen. Ollie Pope (106) and Harry Brook (99) must have sent him thank-you notes for the buffet of loose deliveries. In the second innings, with England chasing 371, Thakur finally struck, removing Ben Duckett (149) and Harry Brook (0) in quick succession. Two wickets for 51 runs in 10 overs sounds almost respectable—until you realize Duckett was already feasting at 149, and Brook’s dismissal was a fluke down the leg side. Oh, and let’s not forget the hat-trick ball to Ben Stokes, which was about as threatening as a feather duster. England romped home in 82 overs, winning by five wickets, while Thakur’s spells were as impactful as a whisper in a storm.

The irony is palpable. Thakur was picked for his all-round prowess, yet he was neither fish nor fowl. His batting was a non-event, his bowling a masterclass in mediocrity. Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik didn’t mince words, questioning why Thakur was even in the XI if Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir didn’t trust his bowling. He bowled a measly 16 overs across both innings, while Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna toiled for over 20 each. Was Thakur’s run-up marked with an invisibility cloak? Social media was ablaze with fans calling his bowling “filthy” and “awful,” with one user lamenting his “pathetic fielding” and lack of pace. Even Ajinkya Rahane, usually a beacon of diplomacy, urged Gill to give Thakur more responsibility, perhaps out of pity.

The Headingley pitch, with its 9mm grass and early seam movement, was tailor-made for a bowler like Thakur, who’s supposed to swing the ball both ways and extract bounce. Instead, he served up wide deliveries and leg-side gifts, making England’s chase look like a leisurely Sunday drive. When Sunil Gavaskar and Monty Panesar called for Kuldeep Yadav to replace him for the second Test, it was clear Thakur’s Headingley horror show had sealed his fate. Thakur, at 33, is running out of excuses. His 11 Tests have yielded 31 wickets and 331 runs, but Headingley exposed his limitations in brutal fashion.

Here’s a toast to you, Shardul—may your next outing be less of a farce. But don’t hold your breath, folks. This “Lord” has no divine intervention left to offer.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Mumbai.)

2 Comments

MaryJane

Oct 14

Man, reading that breakdown of Shardul’s Headingley show was painful but also kind of funny. I came across this site https://batery.pro.in/aviator/ the other day, it’s a game where you have to decide the exact right moment to cash out before everything crashes. And honestly, that’s what Thakur needed — timing and judgment. Instead of knowing when to attack or defend, he just let chances slip, and by the time he did anything, the match was already gone.

Edited

billyy brown

Jul 02

It’s easy to be harsh on someone like Shardul Thakur, but I think calling him a “masterclass in mediocrity” oversimplifies his role. He’s not the star every time, sure, but he's delivered under pressure in ways stats don’t always capture—especially in crunch moments. As a cricket fan who follows both performance and odds, I’ve often found sites like https://bet365.pro.in/app/ helpful for understanding how players are valued by markets, not just fans. While you can't bet there, the data and form analysis give context beyond opinions. Thakur’s numbers might not dazzle, but his utility across formats is hard to ignore. He’s a player teams turn to when they need a bit of everything, and in modern cricket, that has real value—even if…