Behind bigger price tags hides a fault line in India’s growth story

Festive season is coming and you will have the third price hike of the year in consumer durables. LG, Daikin, Voltas, Samsung, Godrej and others are raising prices by up to 10% from October, after copper, steel, aluminium and resin costs surged along with logistics and energy expenses, ET has reported. The immediate trigger is a global cost shock, intensified by the prolonged West Asia crisis.

But the episode exposes a deeper issue for an industry that the BCG-CII expects to grow 8-10% annually to Rs 3-3.25 lakh crore by 2030. India cannot prevent every global commodity shock, but it can reduce how much of that shock gets passed on to Indian consumers.