The bumper Diwali season’s sales in 2021 worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore, touted as the highest recorded till now, has baffled one and all, with Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra asking fellow Twitter users: “Is this just short-lived revenge buying? Or is it the return of the ‘feel-good’ factor? What are your views?”

The sales data was furnished by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

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As per CAIT’s data, the season last year recorded sales of about Rs 72,000 crore, in 2019 it was Rs 60,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore in 2018, and Rs 43,000 crore in 2017.

The confederation said the upswing was not triggered by ‘Revenge Buying’ but a ‘Sustainable’ demand trend.

Further, CAIT cited that rising vaccination levels along with lower transmission levels have instilled confidence in buyers.

Besides, more choices at offer in retail outlets ensured plenty of buying opportunities for customers.

Explaining in detail, the reasons behind the massive Rs 1.2 lakh crore worth of sales recorded this Diwali season, CAIT’s Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal told IANS: “Pent-up demand, as well as lesser Covid related restrictions and more choices, were some of the reasons behind this year’s bumper Diwali sales.”

“This trend is sustainable and completely viable as the country has achieved high vaccination rates and is poised to control the pandemic completely.”

In technical parlance, revenge buying is described as overindulgence shopping.

This phenomenon occurs especially after a period when the customer has not been able to buy discretionary products for a while.

CAIT’s research arm – CRTDS – conducted a survey on an estimation of Diwali sales across states

Furthermore, the survey report said: “Due to the lacklustre attitude of the State Governments about having a firecracker policy resulted in the loss of around Rs 10,000 crore of business to small manufacturers and sellers of firecrackers,” the confederation’s survey said.

In addition, Khandelwal expects sales upswing to continue.

“It is hoped that about Rs 3 lakh crore will be infused in the markets by the end of December 2021 which will not only improve the economy but will also relieve the business community from great financial crunch,” Khandelwal said.

“Prominent retail verticals like FMCG goods, consumer durables, toys, electrical appliances and goods, electronic appliances and white goods, kitchen articles and accessories, sweets, home furnishing amongst others.”

According to Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuité Ratings & Research: “Clearly, the festive season is likely to give an impetus to retail demand and this is already getting reflected in the data published by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) for this Diwali season; the sales at retail outlets have reportedly more than doubled to Rs 1.25 lakh crore from Rs 60,000 crore in 2019.”

“In our opinion, this is also the pent-up demand at play as many consumers have not been able to access retail outlets for more than a year.”