A third of India’s festive season is over ⁠— what’s selling and what’s not

• The profits for the biggest of car makers like Maruti and Hyundai have been squeezed by lack of production triggered by the global chip shortage.
  
• Amazon and Flipkart sold goods worth $4.6 billion during the festive season sale (up to October 10) but nearly three-fourths of that came from mobile phones and other electronic devices.
  
• Fashion as a segment grew better than last year but demand for home furnishings and decor have been subdued this year.
  

Indian equity markets scaled new peaks in the hope that the festive season will show a remarkable economic recovery from corporate India. Companies too had prepared for the first real boom in demand since the pandemic with four straight months of gains in manufacturing.

Those hopes have not come true, at least not for everyone, and not to the extent that investors, the government, and even the biggest of chains like Reliance Retail, or the biggest of consumer goods products like Hindustan Unilever and Marico, would have liked.

While the headlines from the mega online sales at Amazon and Flipkart are encouraging, the recovery in consumer demand ⁠— both online and offline ⁠— has been limited to certain product categories like smartphones, electronics, and jewellery (because weddings couldn’t wait any longer).

It could have been better if people’s purchasing power was not limited by the rising prices of food and fuel as well as the price hikes undertaken by the companies to offset their rising costs.