Discretionary goods see rise in festive demand

Chennai: With the pandemic situation coming under control, discretionary spends are expected to see a spurt this festive season, though consumer staple demand may take a backseat.

“As we enter the festive season–with the nationwide vaccination drive continuing in full swing and daily case numbers remaining subdued–discretionary companies are set to witness continued demand momentum over the remainder of the year,” said Motilal Oswal Finan-cial Services.

Discretionary items like apparels and accessories, jewellery, home furnishing, consumer durables, automobiles and housing are expected to do well during the festive season. Many of these categories have already witnessed spurt in demand. The demand for discretionary categories has improved month-on-month even in August and is now closer to 2019 levels.

Apparel retailers are expected to see a much stronger recovery compared to last year. Emkay Global Financial Services expects Page Industries to report healthy 17 per cent revenue growth Aditya Birla Fashion Retail to reach 85 per cent of pre-Covid level sales.

In the case of gold and jewellery, the demand has been rising with the start of the festive season. “There has been good booking during some of the B2B events like IIJS. The festive season demand has been rising,” said P. R. Somasundaram, MD, World Gold Council Inida.

According to B. Thiaga-rajan, joint MD of Bluestar, consumer durables touched 85 per cent of the pre-pandemic sales last festive season and this time it would be 100 per cent.

The housing demand is expected to further imp-rove with the season. This is expected to give a boost to the demand for home furnishings.