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If it were a consumption category in itself, the ‘big fat Indian wedding’, Jefferies said, would rank as the second largest, only behind food and groceries.
The current average expenditure per wedding of around Rs 1.2 million, Jefferies said, is 5x India’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $2.9k and greater than 3x the average annual household income of around Rs 0.4 million. Compared globally, India’s wedding spend to GDP ratio at 5x, is significantly higher than several other countries.
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Spends
Listed players
The ‘big fat Indian wedding’, Jefferies said, is also a key consumption driver for several categories. From a spend perspective, wedding jewellery, the note said, typically accounts for the largest proportion of the wedding spend, making up approximately a quarter of the total spend done by a family, followed by catering at around 20 per cent and events at 15 per cent.
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“For the jewellery industry too, wedding is a key demand driver – 50 per cent to 55 per cent of the total jewellery market by weight is wedding jewellery, followed by daily wear at 35 per cent and fashion wear at 20 per cent. Of the $84 billion apparel retail market, nearly 11 per cent is led by wedding and celebration wear, bulk of which are driven by the former,” the Jefferies note said.
While service providers to the wedding industry largely fall in the unorganized and highly fragmented category, consisting of many small scale businesses and individual service providers who cater to both low and high spenders, there is scope for the organized players – and even stock market listed entities – to up their game to address consumer needs.
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While there are no pure-play listed catering companies, select branded retail chains do offer catering services, the Jefferies note said. Another segment, according to Jefferies, that does not have any stock market listed company catering to the big fat Indian wedding industry is the ‘wedding planners’ segment, which is currently led by start-ups.

Key stocks
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With elaborate stay and travel-related requirements in a wedding, there is opportunity for leading hotels chains such as IHCL, EIH, Chalet Hotels and airline companies such as Indigo, SpiceJet etc., Jefferies believes, which are among the key listed companies in this space.