Christmas and New Year may be the season to be merry and also to be generous. Well, at least electronics retailers are hoping that Indian shoppers buy lots of gadgets this month. CNBC-TV18's Vivin Mathew reports on what could be India's new shopping festival.

Christmas time has now become synonomous with year-end sales in India, specially when it comes to consumer electronics.

Electronics retailers like Future Group's E-Zone, and Tata's Croma are keen on making the Christmas holidays a time to shop. It is no wonder that offers like ''buy a TV and get an X-Box gaming console free'', or ''buy a washing machine and get clothes drier free'' are commonplace.

"We started off last year and it was a stupendous success and this year again we are repeating it," says Manoj Kumar, CEO, E-Zone & Electronic Bazaar.

Last year, E-Zone made Rs45 crore during the Christmas – New Year sales season. This year, it expects at least Rs150 crores, representing a staggering 20 per cent of its expected Rs800 crore revenue in 2007.

Obviously, other retailers too want to cash in on Santa's goody bag.

"Santa has no religion, I can't call him a God but he's every child's dream," says Ajit Joshi, CEO& MD, Infiniti Retail. What he doesn't say in so many words, is that Santa is also turning out to be a retailer's dream.

Tata's Croma, for example, says its Christmas - New Year sales should ensure around 40 per cent additional sales of products than usual, which would mean that they practically rival Diwali as India's favourite shopping season. Internationally, electronics retailers view the Christmas-New Year season as the most lucrative for sales.

In India, traditionally Diwali has had that place. This year, however, Indian electronics retailers, many of whom are in their first full year of operations, want to ensure that the Christmas – New Year season is as lucrative for them as much as Diwali has been.