India goes on revenge shopping

15 October 2022, Mumbai:

Indian consumers are lapping up everything from cars, houses, and television sets to travel, fashion and jewellery.

Online and offline sales during the Hindu festival period starting in the last week of September and lasting until early November are estimated to be 25 percent higher than last year. Retail sales always peak from October to November, when the nation of 1.4 billion celebrates Dussehra and Diwali. It's also an auspicious time to get married.

But the surge this year is much larger, mainly due to pent-up demand as Covid recedes two years after devastating the country, as well as a rise in wages and an increase in jobs as the economy recovers. With a four-fold rise in online buyers since 2018 and demand for items like mobile handsets and fashion garments spreading to small towns, such sales are likely to remain strong at least for the next three months.

Auto sales, including those of two-wheelers, rose 57 percent during the nine most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar this month compared to last year and were nearly one-fifth higher compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019. In the country’s top seven cities, home sales in the September quarter rose nearly 70 percent from a year earlier.

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