Indian weddings have traditionally been known for their lavishness, and recent statistics simply reaffirm that fact. In fact, an Indian family spent over Rs 12 lakh on wedding ceremonies alone, which was more than five times the country's GDP per capita of $2,900 and over three times the average annual household income of Rs 4 lakh.
A leading brokerage house, Jefferies India, said that India, ranking first globally as the top wedding destination, hosts anywhere between 80 lakh to 1 crore marriages every year. The Indian wedding market surged to an estimated staggering $130 billion (around Rs 10 lakh crore) in FY2023-24, thereby solely concerning the food and grocery space under the broader $681 billion retail market.
The report mentioned that India spends the most on weddings when compared with other nations in terms of the wedding spend-to-GDP ratio, thus culturally attaching great significance to the event, which triggers massive consumer spending and often very out-of-pocket expenses.
The expenditure towards a wedding includes a long list of items, which starts with jewelry and attire down to event management, catering, and entertainment—all of this adds up to the reported $130 billion.
Jefferies also points out that while the market for weddings in India—nearly twice the size of the analogous market in the United States ($70 billion)—remains a fraction of that in China ($170 billion), such consumer spending disparity underscores if not exaggerates just how seriously India takes weddings. The displays, he argues, have become a part of what is culturally expected and ordained in India.
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