New Delhi. The Indian wedding industry is estimated to be worth around Rs 10 lakh crore, second only to food and grocery.
Giving this information in a report, it was said that the common Indian spends twice as much on marriage ceremonies as he spends on education. In India, 80 lakh to 1 crore marriages take place every year, whereas in China 70-80 lakh marriages take place and in America 20-25 lakh marriages take place.
“The Indian wedding industry is almost twice the size of the US (US$70 billion) industry. However, it is smaller than China (US$170 billion),” brokerage firm Jefferies said in a report.
According to the report, weddings are the second largest consumption category in India. If weddings were a category, they would be the second largest retail category after food and grocery (US$ 681 billion). Weddings in India are lavish and involve a lot of ceremony and expenditure. This drives consumption in categories such as jewellery and apparel and indirectly benefits the auto and electronics industries. Despite efforts to curb lavish weddings, lavish weddings in foreign locations continue to showcase Indian opulence.
Jefferies said, “With 80 lakh to 1 crore marriages every year, India is the largest wedding destination worldwide. According to CAT, its size is estimated to be US $ 130 billion. India’s wedding industry is almost double that of the US and has a significant contribution in major consumption categories.” Indian weddings last for several days and range from simple to extremely lavish. Region, religion and economic background play an important role in this. The report also said that in India, twice the amount is spent on marriage as compared to education (up to graduation), whereas in countries like America, this expenditure is less than half of the education.