top of page

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.

The Musk Mutiny

Elon Musk has broken up with President Trump to form a political party of his own. But can Silicon Valley populism fix Washington’s dysfunction or worsen it?

ree

The world’s richest man has declared political independence. Elon Musk, no stranger to provocation or reinvention, announced the formation of the ‘America Party’ after ending his brief but high-profile association with the Trump administration. The fallout came swiftly after President Donald Trump signed into law a sweeping spending and tax bill that Musk had condemned as “insane and destructive.”


For months, their political courtship had held Washington in thrall. Musk, appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - a typically irreverent acronym in the Muskian mould - was tasked with slashing federal bureaucracy and pushing tech-forward reforms. But the White House’s July 4 bill, a firework display of largesse, marked the end. Musk launched an online poll on Independence Day asking whether he should start a new political party. By the next morning, with two-thirds of respondents saying yes, he declared the America Party born.


History is strewn with wealthy men who tried to upend American politics. H. Ross Perot’s 1992 Reform Party bid garnered 19 percent of the vote, proving that outsider candidates could resonate with an electorate jaded by partisanship. Theodore Roosevelt, after his falling out with the Republican machine in 1912, founded the Progressive ‘Bull Moose’ Party, splitting the conservative vote and handing the White House to Woodrow Wilson. Like Roosevelt, Musk now seems set on blitzing the political centre from both flanks.


But unlike Roosevelt or Perot, Musk commands a cult-like following online and sits atop a vast corporate empire spanning electric vehicles, spaceflight, and artificial intelligence. Where past third-party efforts faltered for want of media oxygen and money, Musk suffers no such disadvantage. He is the message, the megaphone and the moneybag all in one.


Musk’s critique echoes those of disillusioned centrists and radical populists alike that the Democrats and Republicans, despite their trench warfare over cultural issues, often collude in matters of spending, war and lobbying. The uniparty, in Musk’s telling, is as entrenched as the Spartan phalanx - invincible until Epaminondas of Thebes shattered it at Leuctra in 371 BC by deploying an unorthodox wedge formation. Musk promises to do the same with a concentrated assault on America’s political duopoly.


His analogy may flatter his ambitions. Yet the underlying strategy of targeting key Senate and House races with high-tech campaigns and precision funding is not without precedent. The Tea Party movement and Bernie Sanders’ insurgency both showed how disciplined, donor-powered swarms could unsettle incumbents. Musk, with his blend of fiscal conservatism, techno-optimism and libertarian instinct, hopes to do both parties equal harm. He has already outlined a centrist plank of reducing national debt, modernising the military and investing in artificial intelligence.


Still, voters may wonder whether the America Party is more flash than foundation. A party born from a Twitter poll risks resembling a vanity project more than a serious vehicle for reform. American history is rife with such shooting stars. Andrew Yang’s Forward Party promised to transcend tribalism but failed to attract meaningful traction. Kanye West’s brief presidential flirtation in 2020 was even less substantive. If Musk wants to be more than a billionaire gadfly, he will need institutional muscle and ballot access in 50 states.


The electoral college and single-member districts are designed to favour two parties. Even if Musk's party gains traction, it may end up kingmaking rather than governing, as Perot and Roosevelt once did. Or worse, it could splinter the vote enough to hand power to whichever side Musk disdains more.


For now, the America Party remains a concept more than a coalition. But its emergence underscores the volatility of the current moment. In an age where institutions are mistrusted and platforms are digital, a wealthy and wired man like Elon Musk can redraw the map faster than the old gatekeepers can respond.

Comments

bottom of page