India’s economy is reviving and festive season’s online sales show it

India’s main holiday season — culminating Saturday with Diwali, the festival of lights — appears to be giving a much needed boost to demand, with online retail sales to business activity indicators signaling Asia’s third-largest economy is recovering.

In the run-up to the festival, retailers including Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart saw a 55% jump in online sales from a year ago to $4.1 billion, according to estimates from consultant RedSeer for the period Oct. 15-21. Data compiled by Bloomberg showed an increase in new vehicle registrations during October, while a separate gauge pointed to a rise in credit card transactions much ahead of the holidays.