[[“value”:”
The Indian Wedding Industry Association (IWIA) has noted a significant transformation underway in India’s wedding industry, as the sector steadily moves toward greater formalisation, institutional engagement, and international recognition. Long regarded as one of the country’s largest cultural and economic ecosystems, the wedding industry supports hospitality, tourism, jewellery, fashion, design, logistics, MSMEs, artisans, and a wide network of allied professionals. Traditionally informal and fragmented, it is now evolving into a more structured and professionally organised sector.
Recent developments, including state-led initiatives promoting wedding tourism, growing demand for organised vendor frameworks, and increased regulatory and public scrutiny of large-scale celebrations, indicate a clear inflection point. According to IWIA, the modern Indian wedding has grown far beyond a personal milestone, becoming a complex economic ecosystem, a repository of cultural identity, and an emerging global offering that requires coordinated policy thinking, ethical standards, and long-term sustainability.
The association observes that wedding tourism is increasingly recognised as a contributor to both domestic and inbound travel, while industry stakeholders are placing greater emphasis on transparency, compliance, and professional benchmarks. At the same time, consumer preferences are shifting, with couples prioritising experiential value, design integrity, and meaningful celebrations that balance aspiration with responsibility. IWIA believes these trends present an opportunity to position Indian weddings as a key element of the country’s cultural soft power narrative, while strengthening governance, accountability, and protections for artisan and creative communities.
IWIA emphasises that as the scale and visibility of the wedding economy expand, institutional frameworks must evolve alongside it. Sustainable growth, the association notes, will depend on collaboration among industry bodies, planners, designers, government stakeholders, and local communities, including engagement with the Ministry of Tourism and the Government of India to streamline processes, share policy updates, and support the development of a global wedding destination strategy for the country.
IWIA’s governing leadership includes Founder and Chairman Neeraj Dhawan, Founder and President Raghubir Singh, Founder and Vice Presidents Barun Gupta and Shagun Sethi, Founder and Secretary Rishi Khandelwal, Joint Secretary Raksha Chawla, Founder and Head of CSR Saloni Gupta, Head of Marketing and Collaborations Rajat Dhingra, and Head of Events and Road Shows Naveen Rizvi.
The association’s long-term vision is to build a future-ready wedding ecosystem where timeless traditions are supported by world-class systems that enable ease of business, professional integrity, ethical practice, and inclusive growth. Through research-driven dialogue, advocacy, and industry collaboration, IWIA aims to strengthen structure and governance while positioning Indian weddings as both a resilient economic force and a global cultural expression.
“]] 
