Demand for consumer durables up

Consumer durables firms said the demand for the goods is better than expected this festival season owing to positive consumer sentiments. The industry expects the momentum in demand growth to continue till Diwali. As per the companies, there has been growth in footfalls at stores and stronger demand for the premium products.

Demand for consumer durables rising

Kamal Nandi, Business Head and Executive Vice-President at Godrej Appliances, said, “There has been a spike in sales since the first day of Navratri and it is better than the demand trends that were seen last year. On an average, in the first 15 days of the month, the industry clocked a growth of 12-15 per cent compared to last year. This industry growth will be higher than 15 per cent, if one looks at just the last 10-11 days period with the start of Navratri.”

LG India witnessed a double digit growth in sales during the festive season, said Deepak Bansal, Vice-President-Corporate Planning, LG India. Panasonic has seen 20% year over year growth during the festive season which is expected to increase further as Diwali nears.

Nilesh Gupta, Director, Vijay Sales, said, “So far product shortages have not been a big concern as retailers have been stocking up for the past one-and-a-half months in the run-up to October. In terms of value, we saw a growth of 25-30% during Navratri, which was better than expected. In the coming days, there could be some shortages of select products or models, depending on the brands, if these issues continue.”