10 times increase in digital payments, record car sales, GST reforms spark shopping fever in India during festive season

From crowded bazaars to blazing online carts, a tax tweak has turned the 2025 festive season into an unprecedented economic celebration.

On the evening of September 22, India’s markets transformed into a glittering maze of lights, sound, and swift digital transactions. The lively bargaining in the streets went hand in hand with the clicking of online orders that were rapidly increasing the stocks in warehouses. The trigger was simple but seismic: The government’s decisive cut in Goods and Services Tax (GST) — the perfect timing just before the year’s happiest period. The whole of India was turning into an economic festival of a kind not seen for a very long time.

It began quietly. The announcement came just days before Navratri, a ripple in the news cycle that soon became a tidal wave. As word spread, the impact was immediate and electric. Overnight, digital payment volumes skyrocketed tenfold — leaping from ₹1.18 trillion to an astonishing ₹11.31 trillion. It was as if the entire country, from Delhi’s Chandni chowk traders to tier-3 town shoppers scrolling on their phones, had been waiting for this signal.

In the capital, bazaars turned into rivers of humanity. Delhi alone clocked ₹75,000 crore in festive sales. Down in Ahmedabad, cotton fabric dealers saw demand swell nearly 10 per cent as buyers flocked to stores for freshly taxed-down garments under ₹2,500. Everywhere, the reduced cost was more than a discount — it was permission to celebrate bigger, bolder, longer.

And it wasn’t just traditional goods. The auto sector roared as the unlikely hero of the season. Maruti Suzuki doubled last year’s festive sales, delivering a record 165,000 cars in eight days. On Ashtami alone, 30,000 vehicles rolled out — a single-day figure unmatched in 35 years. Mahindra & Mahindra’s SUVs surged 60 per cent, Tata Motors sold more than 50,000 units, Hyundai’s SUVs accounted for over 70 per cent of their total sales, and two-wheeler showrooms across India buzzed with double the usual footfall.

Meanwhile, electronics stores were stripped of premium products faster than restock trucks could arrive. Haier’s 85-inch and 100-inch TVs almost disappeared from Diwali shelves before the first lanterns were lit. Reliance Retail, Vijay Sales, LG, and Godrej Appliances each reported double-digit booms. Analysts noted that between Onam and Navratri, this season now drives nearly half of the country’s annual retail consumption.

Yet, the most relentless wave came through internet pipelines. Amazon India logged 2,760 million visits during the festival, with 70 per cent from smaller cities buying everything from gold coins to festive decorations. Same-day metro deliveries shot up 29 per cent, while tier-3 buyers embraced the two-day promise with a 37 per cent rise. Meesho reported similar highs — millions of shoppers spending billions of minutes filling virtual carts with sarees, gadgets, and wedding finery.

By the close of the season, India’s combined spending had surged past ₹7 trillion — a sum not just counted in rupees but in the millions of lights across shopfronts, the purr of new engines on city streets, and the ceaseless hum of couriers racing between homes. The GST cuts had done more than ease costs; they had ignited a nationwide spirit of abundance. In a country where festivals are more than occasions — they are lived experiences — 2025 became a year when policy met passion, and together, they rewrote the story of celebration and commerce.