NEW DELHI: The national capital witnessed a big business boom on Wednesday as over 21,000 weddings took place on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. According to estimates by traders’ associations, the wedding rush generated a turnover of nearly Rs 1,000 crore in a single day.
Brijesh Goyal, Chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industries (CTI), said that nearly all banquet halls, hotels, and wedding venues in the city were fully booked for the day.
“There is a tremendous celebration of weddings across Delhi along with the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. The city is estimated to host more than 21,000 marriages today, due to which the markets are looking vibrant. This is a peak season for businessmen associated with weddings,” Goyal said.
Goyal added that prices for hotels and banquet halls also went up by 10–15 percent due to the high demand. Services like catering, event management, beauty salons, DJs, decoration, and music also saw a rise in bookings. According to traders, Gold and silver prices are high but people still bought jewelry, mostly lightweight gold and diamond pieces. “The jewelry sector alone generated a business worth Rs 200 crore in the day,” Goyal added.
He explained that wedding spending is divided into different areas: about 10 percent goes to clothes like sarees and lehengas, another 10 percent to electronics and household items, and 15 percent to jewelry.
Around 10 percent is spent on food items like sweets and dry fruits, and about 4–6 percent on gifts. Most of the money—about 60 percent—is spent on services like wedding venues, decoration, transport, photography, music, and more.
Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and a Member of Parliament, said that India’s wedding industry is now worth over Rs 10 lakh crore but still isn’t officially recognised as an industry. He said there should be proper rules and systems to manage this huge sector and reduce the use of cash.
“Giving the wedding industry official status and better rules will make the sector more transparent and help the Indian economy grow,” he added.
