ndia witnessed a whopping 35 Lakh weddings within a month, (Nov-Dec 2023). That's like almost 2 weddings every second! \ / Vv KS) Win . & @) weddings in the . & # World are from India Vv 7 Rs. 4.25 Lakh Cr / of Wedding Business in India in NG 2023, up 13% over last year 2nd Largest -» Yth Largest wedding Market in the industry in India, as per World, next to the US estimates Yo Crores “ weddings are expected in next 15 yrs, more than the US’ total population of 32 Cr _ Source: CAIT, The Knot Worldwide, Wedding Wishlist, . Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast \x Fastest Growing Wedding Market \ t I \ The $50 Bn+ Indian Wedding Market is expected to grow at a spectacular 30% CAGR! At this pace, India would soon overtake the US to become the world’s largest wedding market. N, ") e Industry size, Billion $ ® Projected Growth, % India USA (Fi) China UK UAE Besides, since a lot of Indian wedding expenses are still in cash, the industry size could be far larger than reported! ere Source: Wedding WishlistBreaking down India’s Wedding Industry.. \ Gold and Diamond jewellery Apparel Durable goods _~ Hotel Venue decoration Wedding invitation card Bridal Mehendi Photography/Videos Entertainment/Music groups As per estimates, 1/10th of India’s 3.6 Lakh Crore travel industry is the contribution of Honeymoon Travel alone! Source: ICMAI (2018) Miscellaneous %90,000 Crore %50,000 Crore 30,000 Crore %7,000 Crore Z 10,000 Crore ie $10,000 Crore %5,000 Crore . 71,500 crore Ic %1,000 Crore ©) y \ %5,000 crore .The ‘Big Fat’ Indian Wedding An average Indian wedding costs 2 20 Lakhs. At a per capita income level of € 1.71 Lakhs, that’s like Indians spending the entire 12 years of their hard-earned money in just 2-3 days! . t ) WY Or so to say, 1/5th of an individual's entire life savings is spent on a wedding! In fact, 20% of all loans taken in India are for weddings only. c / t \ ¥V 7% of Indian weddings that have a budget of 26 Lakhs+ altogether spend more money than the 70% of weddings with a budget of less than 10 Lakhs combined. \ t / us ke Source: ET, Wedding Wire' Who funds Indian Weddings? =-— ~ \ v lout of every 3 weddings in India is funded entirely by the parents of the couple. 30% Entirely by parents 70% Parents and couple together \ OOO© What's more, 4 out of every § Indian OO _ weddings are funded through loans! \ ' 1 1 Source: WedMeGood, IndiaLends \ I aWhat's brewing in the industry? . With rising aspirations and technological \ advancements, a lot has changed in the wedding . industry already. For instance - \ HinG WR Nin Indian weddings are Of Indian marriages are Couples prefer influenced by celebrities through datingapps Destination Weddings Of Indian couples prefer — Indian weddings choose __Of Indian weddings artificial jewellery or e-invites & eco-friendly serve alcohol rentals measures Besides, a huge chunk of the population is already on the queue. VEC eam an Source: WedMeGood, Statista, Medium, ET Now \Environmental Cost of Indian Weddings * 20% wedding food trashed, # 10,500 Cr wasted yearly. * Bangalore weddings alone see a food waste of 950 tonnes a year, valued at ¢ 339 CR, enough to feed 2.6 Cr people a complete meal. > Cum S46 ¥ ¢ Post-wedding, hundreds of tonnes of flowers harm marine life. * Arecent wedding in Auli saw 32,600 kgs of waste from a 5-day affair and irreparable damage to the hill-station’s ecosystem. ( seceees oP * %1,00,000 Cr spent yearly on wasted wedding gifts! * For context, India’s health budget for 2022-23 is Z 86,200 Cr. ‘ } A big responsibility upon the emerging wedding and event 7 planners is to sit down and think how to reduce this wastage. Source: Wedding Wishlist‘ c / 7 N Indian weddings, boasting a $50 billion industry, reflect grandeur and a huge financial scale. N \ \ ‘ ( ] ( i v L However, the ‘Big Fat' celebrations, costing an average - of €20 lakhs, raise serious concerns about ( extravagant spends and environmental waste. \\ Comment below.