Industry Odisha Bureau, Sep 15: India’s festive demand has scaled a five year high in the opening phase of the season, with sales across automobiles, consumer durables, apparel and online commerce pointing to a bumper Navratri & Diwali stretch ahead.
The upswing, spread across Onam, Rakshabandhan and Ganesh Chaturthi, has come even as prices across several categories have risen through the year a sign, industry executives say, of resilient consumer sentiment heading into the country’s biggest shopping period.
Consumer Durables Lead the Charge
Refrigerators, ACs and washing machines recorded volume growth of 12 to 15 per cent year on year in the first phase, powered largely by Onam, while value sales rose faster at 18-23 per cent on the back of price hikes. Smaller towns in Maharashtra and Karnataka also reported strong momentum around Ganesh Chaturthi.
LG Electronics’ director Sanjay Chitkara said Onam had delivered a strong start, with healthy sell through and channel stocking, and that Ganesh Chaturthi was building further on the back of solid volumes. Large screen TVs, four door refrigerators, oversized washing machines and ACs are seeing the sharpest pick up in demand, manufacturers said.
Cars See Record Festive Rush
The automobile sector posted some of the season’s strongest numbers. Maruti Suzuki’s retail sales rose 61 per cent year on year during Onam despite a shorter festival window, while Hyundai Motor India nearly doubled its sales. Hyundai’s managing director Tarun Garg described the demand as unusually strong, prompting the company to advance a third production shift at its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra to keep pace.
Dealers, meanwhile, reported a 20 per cent rise in retail sales during the period, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association, which expects the momentum to hold through the next ten days on the back of Ganesh Chaturthi buying. Maruti Suzuki’s Partho Banerjee said the carmaker sees no headwinds to festive demand improving further, pointing to pending orders of around 180,000 vehicles against just 16 days of channel inventory.
Apparel, Retail and Quick Commerce Join the Party
The buoyancy has spilled well beyond durables and cars. Lifestyle, the departmental store chain, reported strong double-digit growth in both sales and average bill value since Onam, with steady demand across apparel and other categories, its chief executive Devarajan Iyer said.
Online retail has been equally upbeat. Flipkart said its quick-commerce arm grew sales 2.5 times over last year during Ganesh Chaturthi, with smaller markets contributing meaningfully. A separate CLSA report pointed to record weekly active users on Blinkit, Zomato and Swiggy around Rakshabandhan.
Steady Build Up Since Early 2026
Demand has, in fact, been strengthening steadily since January-February across most categories, with global inflationary pressures from the West Asia crisis having little visible impact on consumption so far. Even the Independence Day sales period saw 5 to 7 per cent volume growth, executives noted.
Rising prices appliances and TVs up 12-15 per cent this year, laptops and smartphones up 35 to 40 per cent, and cars up 3.5-5 per cent have pushed more consumers toward financing to fund big ticket purchases.
Godrej Enterprises Group’s appliances business head Kamal Nandi said sentiment has broadly improved across tier I, II and III markets, even as the mass segment grapples with inflationary pressure. The premium segment, he added, continues to perform well, aided by deeper retail chain and e commerce penetration.
With retailers and manufacturers alike sensing a bumper season ahead, all eyes now turn to Navratri and Diwali the festival window that will determine whether this early surge in festive demand translates into a record year for Indian consumption.
