Can festivals cheer India Inc? Experts discuss

Not just gold and other precious metals, Indians are investing in property as well. The July to September period saw a 92 percent year on year (YoY) increase in home sales.

Auto sales during the festive season were a bit of a dampener but a part of it could be attributed to delivery concerns on the back of the global semi-conductor shortage. Will the festive season bring the much-needed cheer to retailers, hotel owners, builders and Motown? Anuj Puri, Chairman of the Anarock Group; Colin Shah, Chairman of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC); Arjun Sharma, Chairman of the Select Group; and Arvind Singhal, CMD of Technopak Advisors, discussed this further.

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“After a very long time, the residential real estate market has bounced back as if there is no tomorrow. We are seeing sales happening, particularly of large apartments, completed apartments or near completed ones, plotted developments and weekend homes. Millennials are buying in large numbers for the first time and it does appear to be sustained. The sentiment of the buyer, the end-user, remains extremely strong on the residential front,” said Puri.

“The highlight for me is that it’s no longer a question of trying to be at the pre-COVID levels. In this quarter, we will surpass the best we have seen in any kind of consumption over the last so many years, with very strong momentum to continue over the coming quarters,” Singhal said.

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According to him, two-wheeler sales have been the only laggard so far. “But I suspect that even that would most likely be made up at least two quarters from now as we start to see more job creation on the ground, as we start to see little bit more money coming into rural markets -- even the two-wheeler segment will catch up,” he explained.

“In the month of August alone, we saw that the pre-pandemic sales crossed 100 percent of the pre-COVID levels… that was buoyant. All segments are firing. The only segment that is bothering us a lot is cinemas,” Sharma said.

“Gems and jewellery industry bounced back very well. If you look at the numbers, in April-September, gold imports were at 400 tonnes, which is higher than what it was in 2019. In terms of value, since the gold rate has gone up so much -- nearly 50 percent in the last 18 months -- it is a much higher number. It’s only because July-September was one of the strongest quarters for most retailers across the country, whether it is organised or unorganised players. They feel the next six months are probably going to be their best ever. We got a little nudge from the government when they made hallmarking mandatory. There is a renewed consumer confidence in this category,” said Shah.