Modi tax cut fuels US$68 billion festival shopping boom in India

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : India's sweeping consumption tax cut drove shoppers to splurge on items from cars to kitchenware during the month-long festival season, boosting the economy that was slammed with a 50 per cent import levy by the US.
55% : The Narendra Modi-led government responded by slashing the Goods and Services Tax from Sept 22 for almost 400 categories of products.
54% : This and the tax cut spurred more purchases for Mahindra. Maruti's production team has been working Sundays to handle the surge in bookings, especially for smaller cars, Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer for marketing and sales said in a post-earnings call last week.
53% : "We saw buoyancy in the kitchen category" during the festival shopping, with products like pressure cookers benefiting from the tax cut, Kaleeswaran A, chief financial officer at Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, told Bloomberg News.
50% : Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Mahindra & Mahindra - India's largest carmakers - saw surging monthly sales, as the first major tax cut in nearly a decade made cars cheaper.
48% : To be sure, the tax changes also disrupted some Indian businesses' supply chain and hurt sales as companies and distributors hurried to offload goods at older rates.

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