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An average Indian couple spends around 2x on weddings versus education (pre-primary to graduation).
From Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding-related celebrations to Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh's nuptials, to that of Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli's and Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas', Indian weddings have always been a grand affair.
A recent Jefferies note estimates spends on the 'big fat Indian wedding' at nearly Rs 10 trillion ($130 billion) each year -- higher than the annual wedding spend in the United States (US) pegged around $70 billion, but lower than China ($170 billion).
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 12 lakh, Jefferies said, is 5x India's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $2,900. It is 3x greater than the average annual household income of around Rs 4 lakh.
Compared globally, India's wedding spend-to-GDP ratio is at 5x, significantly higher than several other countries.
'Interestingly, this spend is nearly 2x the amount spent (including both bride and groom) on nearly 18 years of education in India from pre-primary to graduation (around Rs 6 lakh).
'As a comparison, the wedding/education spend ratio in the US is only 0.5x for public education and 0.1x for private education,' wrote analysts at Jefferies in a recent note led by Vivek Maheshwari, their equity analyst.
An average Indian couple spends around 2x on weddings versus education (pre-primary to graduation), according to the Jefferies note.
This is in sharp contrast to countries such as the US where spend on a wedding is less than half compared to education.
Listed players
The 'big fat Indian wedding', Jefferies said, is also a key consumption driver for several categories.
From a spend perspective, jewellery, the note said, typically accounts for the largest proportion of the wedding spend.
It makes up approximately a quarter of the total spend by a family. This is followed by catering, at around 20 per cent and events at 15 per cent.
'For the jewellery industry, weddings are a key demand driver -- 50-55 per cent of the total jewellery market by weight is wedding jewellery.
'This is 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.
Service providers to the wedding industry largely fall in the unorganised and highly-fragmented category, consisting of many small scale businesses and individual service providers who cater to both low and high spenders.
However, there is also scope for organised players -- and even stock market-listed entities -- to up their game to address consumer needs.
"This is also an opportunity for large organised players to gain market share, as they build capabilities to cater to regional preferences.
'Several companies such as Titan, Kalyan Jewellers, Vedant Fashions and Aditya Birla Fashion Retail are well placed from this shift to organised players in a growing market,' Maheshwari said.
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 'wedding planners', which is currently led by startups.
According to the 2023-2024 wedding industry report by WedMeGood, which surveyed over 2,400 brides and grooms (primarily in urban India), 21 per cent of the couples had destination weddings, up from 18 per cent in 2022.
Popular domestic wedding destinations are Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Kerala and Uttarakhand, while popular international destinations include Thailand, Bali, Italy and Dubai.
With elaborate stay and travel-related requirements in a wedding, there is opportunity for leading hotel chains such as IHCL, EIH and Chalet Hotels.
According to Jefferies, these, along with airlines such as IndiGo and SpiceJet, are among the key listed companies in this space.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
