PM Modi’s push for ‘Wed in India’ has potential to boost Indian economy

From ‘Make in India’ to supporting local craftsmen and artisans, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for his relentless efforts to boost the Indian economy in many ways. Recently, the Prime Minister has turned vocal against destination weddings in foreign locations. In the past few weeks, he has made appeals - at least twice - to the riches of the country to hold their weddings in exotic locations in India instead of going overseas.

“Desh ke ameer logon ko kehna chahta hun, millionnaire-billionaire ko kehna chahta hun, hamare yahan jo shaadi hoti hain na wo jode Ishwar banata hain. To joda apne jeevan ki yatra wo ishwar ke charno me ane ki wajaye videsh me jaake kyun karta hain. Main to kehna chahta hu desh ke nau-jawano se, 'Make in India’ jaisa hai na waise hi ek movement chalna chahiye - Wed in India. Shaadi Hindustan me karo,” the Prime Minister said in a rally in Uttarakhand earlier this month. [I want to tell the riches, the millionaire and billionaires of this country that here the couples are made by the god. Then why do they go to foreign destinations (during their weddings) instead of coming to the God. I want to tell the youth of this country like the ‘Make in India’, there should be a campaign - Wed in India. Get married in India].

While destination weddings are common in developed countries like the USA, among Indians the trend is catching up soon. For rich Indians, overseas locations - especially in Dubai, Muscat, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Phuket, Malta, Malaysia, among others - are fast emerging as preferred destinations for wedding.

“More and more Indians from states like Delhi, Punjab, among others, are now seeking foreign locations as destination wedding spots. Locations like Dubai and Indonesia’s Bali are on top of their choice. While these types of events cost at least 50 per cent more than Indian locations, for people with money holding the ceremonies in foreign destinations is a status symbol,” said a Delhi-based wedding planner.

Glitzy celebrity weddings in posh locations, of late, have also brought the trend to the mainstream, say industry watchers. For instance, when Bollywood star couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh got married in a fairytale Konkani-style wedding at the luxury Villa del Balbianello in Italy's Lake Como, the whole nation took a note of it.

A closer look at the data shows why the Prime Minister is pushing a new campaign - 'Wed in India'. As per estimates by the country’s apex industry body of traders and retailers Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), every year nearly 5,000 affluent couples are now holding their wedding ceremonies in foreign locations. Together, these deprive the local businesses incomes worth Rs 75,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore a year. Additionally, since the money is spend in other countries the exchequer also loses out on income coming from taxes and cess.

According to Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of CAIT, in a wedding “nearly 80 per cent of the expenditure is incurred on both goods and the services and such money when flows into the market enable financial liquidity at the hands of the people and the money gets rotated several times changing hands. Therefore, it helps the economy. Whereas weddings solemnised outside the country devoid the nation and the economy to great extent as expenditures are made in foreign land having no benefit for the country”.

This year, for instance, the local businesses are expecting a boost of Rs 4.74 lakh crore from the 3.8 million marriage ceremonies that are going to take place over the next few months. The number is nearly 26 per cent higher than the total wedding season business in the previous season - pegged at Rs 3.75 lakh crore. As per traditional calendar, the Hindu wedding season resumed on November 23 and will continue till the first week of March 2024. Last year, around 3.2 million weddings took place in the same period.

In the national capital more than 4 lakh weddings are expected to take place in current wedding season, which is likely to generate a business of about Rs 1.25 lakh crore. As per estimates, in India, about 7 lakh weddings will be performed with an expense of Rs 3 lakhs each and 8 lakh weddings with Rs 6 lakh each. While about 10 lakh weddings will be incurring an expense of Rs 10 lakh each; 7 lakh weddings with Rs 15 lakh, 5 lakh weddings with Rs 25 lakh. Some 50 thousand weddings with Rs 50 lakh and 50 thousand weddings with an expense of Rs 1 crore or above.

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