New Delhi: India’s main retail trade body said Sunday that sales during the Diwali holiday period in the country were up more than 10% year-on-year, indicating “good business prospects” for small businesses.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which claims to represent tens of millions of businesses across the country, said its members’ sales during the month-long holiday season ending on Saturday rose to more than ₹72,000 crore ($ 9.7 billion).
“People did not buy anything in the last eight months except essentials. Therefore, people had enough surplus money and some of it was spent on the Diwali festivities,” Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT general secretary, told Reuters.
CAIT members include retailers that sell everything from electrical goods to furniture to footwear. The trade body said it collected sales data from 20 cities.
Despite the optimistic report, India’s economy, which grew at the slowest rate in more than a decade during the year through the end of March, is likely to enter a technical recession for the first time since independence in 1947.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has forecast a contraction of 8.6% in the July-September quarter, as a consequence of a 23.9% contraction in the April-June quarter.
However, India could grow again in the current quarter ending December 2020 if the “momentum” gained in September and October is maintained, the RBI said this week.
The central bank said there was “optimism that the revival in economic activity is stronger than the mere satiety of stifled demand,” adding that similar consumption patterns could ensure a return to growth earlier than expected.
($ 1 = 74.5800 Indian rupees)
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