Shoppers across the country bought products worth Rs 1.25 trillion this Diwali, helping retailers log decade-high sales — a sign of resilient demand even as inflation remains high.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents about 70 million traders, said the tremendous sales response came as a much-needed breather for retailers facing a slowdown for the past two years. It has also made businesses optimistic about the near future.

Traders are now gearing up for the wedding season, scheduled to start from November 14, said CAIT.

“During Diwali this year, there is an estimated business of about Rs 1.25 lakh crore (trillion) in the entire country, which is a record figure in the last decade,” said CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal. “In Delhi alone, this business was about Rs 25,000 crore.”

Consumers spent over Rs 9,000 crore on gold jewellery and silverware, they said, while traders selling packaging items saw sales of Rs 15,000 crore. Before this, online players had also seen encouraging sales.

With the country’s online market projected to soar to $1 trillion by 2025, players such as Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart, Reliance’s JioMart and Tata Group are in fierce competition with each other to grab a pie of the market.