September 30, 2025

Mumbai is buzzing! Sales of fashion and electronics jumped a juicy 15-20% over the weekend after the government sliced GST rates on consumer goods. This big move got people in northern and southern India shopping like never before. But wait, the festive cheer wasn’t felt everywhere — heavy rains in places like Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Odisha put a damper on store visits in eastern and western zones. The GST rate changes started Monday, covering clothes, electronics, footwear, and groceries. This was designed to boost household spending. Plus, the timing couldn’t be better — it’s the start of the festive season, India's biggest shopping time of the year. Devarajan Iyer, CEO of Lifestyle International, India's top departmental chain, shared, "It is a great start to the weekend with strong double-digit growth. It is driven by a combination of factors including end of Shraddh and start of festivities as well as GST reduction." He added, "There is surely a positive sentiment in the market and while it is too early, we hope the momentum continues." However, storms hit store visits, especially in suburban and non-metro areas. Lalit Agarwal, chairman of V-Mart, a big player in small towns, said, "A lot of demand is impacted due to seasonality and is not entirely led by GST or festive season. The sentiment is positive and consumption boost should reflect in the long term." Those in the electronics world are smiling too. Online sales soared over 30% year-on-year thanks to Amazon and Flipkart’s mega sales. Offline stores in the south and north also saw a pick-up, but the rain kept some areas down. The GST revamp scrapped the 12% and 28% slabs, leaving mainly 5% and 18%. Most daily goods now attract the lowest GST or none at all. Kamal Nandi, head of appliances at Godrej Enterprises, said, "Overall sentiments are much better than last year and end-consumer sales have picked up. We have grown in retail by 15-20% over last year, driven by premium products." Still, retailers had a tricky September with low sales. To fight back, stores offered bigger discounts to match online prices. Pulkit Baid, director of Great Eastern Retail, said, "In September, most retailers were in deep red due to negligible sales. Now with a short window to recover, many are offering extra discounts to hit their numbers. Hence prices are abnormally low." Vijay Sales’ director Nilesh Gupta gave some hope: "There is 35-40% growth in sales during the weekend which has come as a big relief as business had declined by 50% across categories in the GST transition period. However, we can gauge whether this is pent-up demand or real demand due to GST cut only after Dussehra." On the FMCG front, business stayed usual but companies face supply chain troubles. Hindustan Unilever and Godrej Consumer Products warned that clearing old inventory priced higher will take time. GCPL MD Sudhir Sitapati said, "By early or mid-next month, consumers will start seeing reduced prices on FMCG products. September may therefore be somewhat choppy, with pipeline changes and stock adjustments, but this is temporary. From Q3 onwards, we expect stronger growth momentum." With GST cuts lighting up the market and festivals adding spice, India's shoppers are back in action, rain or shine!

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Tags: Gst rate cuts, Festive season sales, Fashion sales, Electronics sales, Retail discounts, Fmcg prices,