The big fat Indian wedding season is here. It is that time of the year when it feels like everyone you know is getting married. There is no escaping those beaming faces of the bride and groom on your social media.
The Indian wedding market is booming and is only set to get a boost this season. From apparel to jewellery, several sectors have started reporting a positive impact.
Let’s take a closer look.
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India’s thriving wedding industry
Weddings are a celebration of love and no one does it better than Indians.
India sees around one crore weddings every year, making its wedding industry the second-largest in the world, as per Financial Express.
The current
wedding season, which began on November 12, has 47 auspicious dates. The first phase will have 18 auspicious days until December 16.
The second round of weddings will begin from January 16 and continue until March.
The traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) predicts that 48 lakh ceremonies will occur in just the first phase of the wedding season, contributing nearly Rs 6 lakh crore to the nation’s economy.
Delhi alone is likely to host 4.5 lakh weddings, generating an estimated business of Rs 1.5 lakh crore this season.
According to Times of India (TOI), Kolkata and surrounding areas are looking to hold 60,000 ceremonies this wedding season. Industry experts and trade organisations say the city could witness a business of Rs 65,000 crore, a 35 per cent rise from the last season.
Boost to economy
The big fat Indian wedding season is expected to provide a much-needed fillip to several sectors, including clothing, jewellery, catering and travel.
The celebration-wear category recorded a jump in demand post-COVID as lockdown restrictions eased and travelling resumed. Sales surged across athleisure, apparel, and lifestyle products, as per an Economic Times (ET) report.
However, after the initial sales boost with an uptick in spending across sectors, the expansion of India’s retail market stopped.
The first phase of the ongoing
wedding season aligns with the festive season in India, which is expected to propel business growth.
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Speaking to Businessline, Vikaas Gutgutia, Founder and MD, Ferns N Petals, which offers wedding services, said, “This wedding season is shaping up to be one of the strongest yet, with a 20-25 per cent increase in bookings compared to last year. We are also seeing a shift towards luxury weddings besides increased demand for premium decor, floral arrangements, food styling and unique food presentations.”
Big retailers are banking on the current wedding season in the second half of this fiscal to boost demand. As per ET, Vedant Fashions, which owns men’s ethnic wear brand Manyavar, has reported a low or decline in sales growth for five consecutive quarters due to weak demand.
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But it expects this to change this time. Vedant Modi, its chief revenue officer, told ET that business was back on track during the quarter ending September as festivities coincided with the November-December wedding season.
He said people are shopping closer to the wedding dates than purchasing in advance. “Given how India is moving, people want everything very quickly. So, we only see a trend that people will start buying closer to their wedding days rather than actually preponing any purchases. So, I think qualitatively, that’s what we are seeing on the floor.”
Travelling has also increased this wedding season. “Flight bookings to major metro hubs and top leisure destinations like Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar, Jaipur, and Goa are seeing a strong 70-80 per cent YoY increase,” Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO, ixigo, told Businessline. Weddings in Tier-II cities like Varanasi and Amritsar have also enhanced flight bookings, he added.
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The wedding season is crucial for discretionary categories like jewellery, travel and catering.Jewellery brand Tanishq told ET that the demand for wedding jewellery ramped up after the Centre reduced customs duty.
In the Union Budget in July, the Centre slashed customs duty on gold bars to 6 per cent from 15 per cent, gold dore to 5.35 per cent from 14.35 per cent, silver bars to 6 per cent from 15 per cent, and silver dore to 5.35 per cent from 14.35 per cent. With this, jewellery became cheaper, leading to more demand.
As per ET, Ajoy Chawla, CEO of Titan’s jewellery division, told analysts that “once gold prices corrected, many people came in.”
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He added that the demand for wedding jewellery also picked up during festivals. “And we think it’s a good run ahead for the next two quarters,” Chawla said.
The juggernaut of the Indian wedding industry is only likely to expand in future, with estimates indicating it could reach a staggering Rs 10 trillion by 2025.
With input from agencies
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