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By:

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.

Stern Accountability

The sacking of Bengaluru’s Police Commissioner over the stampede near the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is both necessary and overdue. Eleven people were crushed to death amid a chaotic celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first IPL title in 18 years. Thirty-three more were injured. But removing one scapegoat cannot mask the systemic failure of a government that ignored warnings, muddled messaging and misplaced priorities. Now that the commissioner has been sacrificed, the political bigwigs who oversaw this disaster must follow.


The government has suspended top police officials and ordered a judicial inquiry. Yet, CM Siddaramaiah’s promise that RCB officials will be arrested does not absolve those at the political helm. The crowd had swelled past the three-lakh mark on the fateful day, overwhelming police capacity, especially as the bulk of forces were inexplicably deployed to secure VIPs at the Vidhana Soudha instead of the stadium gates, where people surged in a deadly crush.


Furthermore, conflicting signals had fuelled the stampede. On the morning of the tragedy, RCB management announced a victory march from Vidhana Soudha to the stadium. Yet, Bengaluru traffic police declared there would be no parade due to traffic concerns. Fans arrived anyway. When Gate 3 of the stadium partially opened, a crush of ticket holders and non-ticket holders attempted entry causing barricades to collapse.


Political blame games have predictably followed since the tragedy with the opposition BJP demanding the sacking of Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, accusing him of crass insensitivity. But even apart from the opposition’s clamour, Shivakumar’s behaviour and his craving for publicity, even as people were dying, has come in for some hard knocks. It appeared the top Karnataka top political brass seemed hell-bent of making the RCB victory parade a family event.


These accusations underscore the brutal truth that the RCB victory parade was a show of reckless governance and hubris. Bengaluru’s failure was predictable given that the Karnataka government had at least 24 hours’ notice to prevent the occurrence of the tragedy. The KSCA’s June 3 letter requesting permission for the felicitation event demolishes claims of last-minute chaos. Yet, rather than mobilise resources to protect citizens, the Karnataka government and its chose optics over order as it left the fans exposed.


The police commissioner’s removal is a start, but the rot runs deeper. Political accountability cannot be delayed or diluted. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy must shoulder responsibility for allowing a festivity to morph into a funeral procession. In any functioning democracy, presiding over a mass casualty event of this scale would end careers, not just those of police officers on the ground. The buck does not stop at the Commissioner’s desk. It goes much higher in this case. For this was not a tragedy born of passion but of negligence, arrogance and an unforgivable belief that political ceremony matters more than public safety. Eleven citizens paid the price with their lives for administrative incompetence and political vanity. It is time their leaders did too.

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