KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

-The Hindu Business Line Retailers’ Association of India pointed out that the impact of inflationary challenges on the discretionary segment was visible Retailers posted a 15 per cent growth in sales in November over pre-pandemic levels. According to the latest edition of Retail Business Survey released by the Retailers’ Association of India (RAI), this growth was led by segments such as footwear, sports goods and jewellery. The industry body, however, pointed out...

-The Hindu Business Line Players said they have begun witnessing good demand for winter products Apparel and footwear companies said they are closely monitoring inflationary trends with some even looking at rolling back price hikes on existing range or upcoming season offerings, especially at the mass-end. Players also said they have begun witnessing strong demand for winter season-related products. This comes at a time when there has been some softening in raw material...

-Business Standard Dept in advanced inter-ministerial talks; schemes for bicycles, footwear to follow The industry department is in the advanced stage of inter-ministerial consultation for launching a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for both traditional and mechanical toys worth Rs 3,500 crore, which will be followed by PLI schemes for bicycles and footwear. “Discussions for PLI for toys are at an advanced stage. PLIs for bicycles and footwear are also under formulation,” a government...

-The Hindu Policymakers can ill-afford to drop their guard in the fight against inflation October’s inflation data point to a welcome softening in price gains that should offer some succour to monetary policy authorities, who have been battling to rein in runaway inflation since the beginning of this year. Retail inflation, or price gains based on the Consumer Price Index, slowed to 6.77% last month, from September’s 7.41%, aided by an appreciable...