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Showing posts from October, 2019

The Lipstick Effect- An insight into a rare economic phenomenon

There is a slowdown buzz all around the world and is visible also in India. Sectors such as automobile and real-estate are often making headlines and not for a good reason. It is only to report the falling sales figures, or slowing growth rates. In the latest quarter, non-oil, non-gold imports are down — indicating that Indians are buying less of imported goods too. On the other hand, the movie business is doing very well. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has cited that Rs 120 crore business done by three Bollywood movies on a single day suggests the strength in the fundamentals of the Indian economy, but he was actually articulating a real economic phenomenon playing out in India currently. It may be puzzling to see how few businesses such as Movies, and Electronics are performing so well despite the apparent slowdown in most of the other segments of economy. It does not mean the movie industry is defying the slowdown. It’s the ‘Lipstick Effect’ at play. It was first ob...