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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.

Traitor Talk

Operation Sindoor is not over. It has merely paused as the Indian government and the nation awaits perfidious Pakistan’s next move with bated breath. Yet, even in this hour of national crisis, India finds herself yet again fighting twin wars - one on the frontlines, the other in the pitiful trenches of domestic politics. It seems a section of Indian opposition leaders seem determined to undermine the national cause. Instead of rallying behind the tricolour and joining forces with the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi, Sanjay Raut and their ilk have chosen to parrot the narrative of the enemy. This is political opportunism of the vilest kind - juvenile, cynical and disgraceful.


True to his penchant for self-destruction, Rahul Gandhi is back to doing what he does best: peddling half-truths with the confidence of an ignoramus. By misquoting External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and suggesting that India informed Pakistan before Operation Sindoor began, he crossed the line from mere foolishness to active sabotage. Whether he realizes or not, Rahul Gandhi’s remarks seem to be choreographed in tandem with Pakistan’s propaganda mill.


For a man who has never held ministerial office, Gandhi has shown extraordinary arrogance in questioning one of India’s most seasoned diplomats, Dr. Jaishankar. He does not need lessons in diplomacy from a politician who cannot differentiate between foreign policy and family drama.


Meanwhile, the Congress ally in Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is up to a similar game. The party’s megaphone Sanjay Raut, never one to miss a chance to scream into a void, has urged the INDIA bloc to boycott all-party delegations being sent abroad. Why? Because they allegedly conceal the Centre’s “sins and crimes.” Raut’s remarks, dripping with melodrama and devoid of logic, are a masterclass in how not to conduct oneself in a time of national crisis. One wonders whether he has forgotten the difference between opposition politics and national betrayal. Fortunately, Sharad Pawar, the elder statesman of Indian politics, has not. His reminder that global matters must rise above “local-level politics” ought to have shamed Raut into silence.


But shame, clearly, is in short supply. The Trinamool Congress’s hissy fit over not being consulted about which MP to nominate for the international delegations is another sorry chapter. Their decision to withdraw Yusuf Pathan, citing “lack of consultation,” reeks of wounded ego masquerading as principle.


Did the BJP consult every party on every name? No. The inclusion of Congressmen Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari exposes the hollowness of that charge. If anything, it proves that the Modi government is committed to sending credible voices, not just loyalists.


The real tragedy here is not that Rahul Gandhi, Sanjay Raut or Abhishek Banerjee oppose the Modi government. That is their democratic right. The tragedy is that they oppose India’s foreign policy objectives even when the nation is reeling from a terror attack.


In normal times, such behaviour is unpatriotic. In a time of war, it is unconscionable.

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