India's demand funk: It has people but where are the consumers

Consumer spending fell in real terms in 2017-18, its first decline in four decades, Business Standard reported Friday.

A long-held belief of analysts in India is that the economy is supply-constrained. Demand isn’t even worth a footnote, while a temporary squeeze in the onion market deserves obsession because it could be inflationary. 

It’s increasingly obvious that this view is outdated. In October, inflation quickened more than expected to 4.62% because of, yes, an onion shortage. Yet core inflation, which strips out volatile commodity prices, slumped to 3.4%, the lowest since the current price series began in 2012. 

One explanation is that people have less money to spend on other things after buying vegetables. Yet, as Mark Williams, chief