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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.

The Vanishing Green Cover

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When will National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) complete 84km of Mumbai-Goa highway? Fourteen years of construction, a hike in spending to over Rs 15,000 crore, an incomplete road, potholes, accidents, and politics. This, in a nutshell, is the saga of the long-pending Mumbai-Goa highway expansion project. This pathetic situation has left no answer to the question, when will NHAI complete 84km Mumbai-Goa highway?


Several factors have marred the crucial project to expand what is known as National Highway 66 (NH-66) from delays in getting forest clearances and lengthy land acquisition processes to shoddy work by contractors. Every year, the condition of the highway and the delays in its expansion come into the news discourse just before the ten-day Ganpati festival, during which a large number of Konkan natives living in Mumbai have to use the road to travel to their villages in the Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. Once the festivities end, the highway is again easily forgotten while the meter on the project keeps running.


Ever since it was announced in 2011, National Highway 66 connecting Mumbai and Goa has been held out as a dream thoroughfare that will enable travellers to commute between the two places in six hours flat. However, the situation on the ground paints a starkly different picture. For those who regularly travel on this highway, the reality is murky as barring some portion the entire stretch is riddled with potholes.


Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways, has apologised for the delay in the work on the Mumbai-Goa highway and assured that it will be completed at the earliest. At the same time the political leadership in Konkan is busy in taking on each other and passing the tantrums underscoring the infighting in the ruling alliance. Sharp comments by Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam sparked the flutter. Even the Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was forced to intervene to subside the matter. Kadam dubbed Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan a ‘useless minister’ over the poor state of the much-delayed Mumbai-Goa Highway. “After 14 years, even Ram’s ‘vanvas (exile)’ ended, but problems on the Mumbai-Goa highway still persist. PWD Minister Chavan seems completely useless”. Dy CM Fadnavis should ask for Chavan’s resignation,” demanded Kadam. A peeved Fadnavis responded, “We are only human and such remarks are painful.  I am going to talk to CM Eknath Shinde about this.


Gadkari who has apologised has made it clear that the project initially started in 2009 under the Congress Party and was later handed over to the BJP. Despite the handover, the project remains incomplete, causing frustration among the public. Gadkari acknowledged the delays and highlighted that the government is working on a comprehensive strategy to complete the project. He assured that efforts are being made to overcome the challenges and expedite the work.

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