Wedding season kicks off: Businesses eye highest-ever revenue of Rs 4.25 lakh cr from 35 lakh weddings

In Delhi alone, more than 3.5 lakh weddings are expected to take place in this season, which is likely to generate a business of about Rs 1 lakh crore in Delhi itself, said B C Bhartia, National President, CAIT

The wedding business this year is expected to register a record with around 35 lakh weddings and a business of around Rs 4.25 lakh crore, the highest ever, according to a survey conducted by the research arm of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

Traders across the country, including Delhi are gearing up and preparing themselves for the upcoming wedding season, the first spell of which will begin from November 23 till December 15.

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"In Delhi alone, more than 3.5 lakh weddings are expected to take place in this season, which is likely to generate a business of about Rs 1 lakh crore in Delhi itself. Last year, around 32 lakh weddings took place in the same period and expenses were estimated at Rs 3.75 lakh crore," said B C Bhartia, National President, CAIT.

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In the 23 days of the wedding season, about 6 lakh weddings will have an estimated expenditure of Rs 3 lakh per wedding, while in about 10 lakh weddings the cost per wedding will be around Rs 6 lakh per wedding, said CAIT Secretary General, Praveen Khandelwal.  "Around 12 lakh weddings will cost about Rs 10 lakh per wedding, 6 lakh weddings will cost Rs 25 lakh per wedding, 50,000 weddings will have Rs 50 lakh expenditure and 50,000 weddings will have a budget of Rs 1 crore or more."

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The next phase of the wedding season will start from mid-January and will continue till July.

"In view of the good business prospects of the wedding season, traders across the country have made elaborate preparations. Traders are keeping all arrangements up to date with them to meet the possible rush of customers. They said that about 20 percent of the expenditure of each marriage goes to the broom-bride's side while 80 percent of the expenditure goes to other third agencies working in solemnizing the marriage," said Bhartia.

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The banquet halls, hotels, open lawns, community centres, public parks, farmhouses and many other types of places for weddings are fully prepared across the country including Delhi, said Khandelwal.

"In addition to the purchase of accessories at each wedding, a wide variety of services are also involved, including tent decorators, flower decorations, crockery, catering service, travel service, cab service, welcoming professional groups, vegetable vendors, photographers, videographer, band-baja, shehnai, orchestra, DJ, horses for the procession, wagons, lights and many other types of services are likely to do big business this time. Along with this, event management has also emerged as a big business prospect," he said.