After a muted festive period last year, retailers are gearing up for a bumper season this time. Festive and wedding season sales are expected to touch between Rs 12 lakh crore and Rs 14 lakh crore, according to research by Bank of Baroda (BoB). The growth is driven by GST rate cuts, income tax relief, pent-up demand from the past few quarters and a softening of inflation. Categories leading the spending include clothes, electronics and automobiles, all of which benefit from recent tax revisions.

The BoB study looked at spending trends over the past five to six years during the October-December quarter, which covers major festivals such as Dussehra, Diwali and Christmas, as well as the wedding season. “The overall sentiment is positive,” says Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Associa

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