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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.

Unguided Missile

Updated: Nov 15, 2024

Vijay Wadettiwa

Vijay Wadettiwar is the leader of opposition in the outgoing Maharashtra Leagislative Assembly. He is extremely aggressive in the house when he exposes the treasury benches and tears apart their arguments. However, he is equally calm and very balanced whenever he meets party workers and guides them to help them resolve various issues that they bring to him. This way he makes a very good mix of leadership qualities that the party like Congress needs today.


Born in 1962 at a small village named Karaji in Gondpimpri taluka of Chandrapur district, Wadettiwar ventured into politics as a student leaders who led several of the students’ agitations in early 80’s.

His natural choice even in those days was the NSUI. However, as he advanced into the politics after completing college, he joined the Shiv Sena. His aggressive nature suited the Shiv Sena style of politics and he made good progress within the party at an early age.


He was nominated to the Zilla Parishad (ZP) by the party in 1991 and in 1995 when the party came to power in the state for the first time he was entrusted with the responsibility as chairperson of the forest development corporation. The post had the status of minister of state.


Wadettiwar was sent to the legislative council by the party in 1998. And he contested assembly election for the first time from Chimur constituency of Chandrapur district in 2004.


He was among the 11 MLAs who left Shiv Sena along with former CM Narayan Rane in 2005 to join the Congress. In 2008 he was entrusted with the responsibilities of the environment, forests, tribal welfare and water resources as the minister of state. Within a year the government had to face elections and Wadettiwar returned to assembly with and enhanced support. Between 2009 and 2014 he was minister of state for water resources, energy, finance and planning and parliamentary affairs. In 2014 when the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance came to power in the state he was made deputy leader of the house by the Congress party and after the then leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil joined the BJP, Wadettiwar became the leader of opposition in the state assembly.


Meanwhile, Narayan Rane, along with whom Wadettiwar had joined the Congress, quit the party to join BJP. However, Wadettiwar remained with the Congress and became the disaster management minister Under Uddhav Thackeray in 2019. After the government collapsed in 2022 he became the leader of opposition yet again.


Wadettiwar is outspoken in his nature and gets involved in one or the other controversy all the time. However, this makes him a polarizing figure in Maharashtra politics.

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