Decoding the Indian wedding business

It seems that Indian weddings are breaking the myth that a human's basic needs are food, clothing, and shelter. Apparently, for Indians, weddings are more important than clothing because, in FY24 (April 01,2023 to March 31, 2024) Indians spent $681 billion on food and grocery, $84 billion on apparel and accessories, while the total spend on weddings for FY24 was $130 billion, says a report by Jefferies. Assuming ₹80 equal to $1, in FY24, Indian wedding industry size was around ₹10.5 lakh crore.

According to the report, the highest number of weddings in the world are held in India, around 80 lakh to a crore, annually and the Indian wedding industry is the second biggest in the world. The biggest wedding industry in the world is that of China, at about $170 billion, while the U.S. ranks third at $70 billion.

How big is the wedding business in India?

Wedding cuts across multiple consumption categories like jewellery, apparel, hotels, catering, decoration, travel, and live entertainment. As per the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), an average of ₹12 lakh are spent on a wedding in India, which is almost 3 times the average annual income of an Indian household, and almost 5 times the per capita GDP of India.

Jewellery and catering are the two categories that are consumed by all spenders, starting from lowest to the elite. Mid-level spenders spend on jewellery, catering, and venue, while high spenders spend on jewellery, catering, accommodation, and attire. Elite weddings spend on jewellery, catering, accommodation, attire, travel, and entertainment.

As per Jefferies, out of the total spend of $130 billion on weddings in 2023, $35 billion to $40 billion were spent on jewellery, which is the highest contributor to the wedding industry. Catering, the second highest expense category, accounted for $24 billion to $26 billion, followed by 'event' at $18 billion to $20 billion, followed by photography that cost $10 billion to $12 billion, while apparel and décor categories each contributed to $9 billion to $10 billion. The rest of the $20 billion to $25 billion were spent on other miscellaneous expenses.

In 2023, elite weddings comprised 1% of the total number of weddings in India and contributed to 12% of the overall spend on the weddings held by the entire country. Conversely, the lowest spenders, who comprised 17% of the number of weddings, contributed 4% of overall spend. The cost of an average elite wedding was ₹1 crore, while the lowest level wedding cost an average of ₹3 lakh.

The mid-level weddings that comprised 51% of the total number of weddings, contributed 63% of total spend. The amount spent on a mid-level wedding ranged from ₹10 lakh to ₹25 lakh.

Listed companies that benefit from weddings:

Jewellery is the sector that prospers the most on the back of weddings in India, especially gold Jewellery. Wedding jewellery demand comprises 50-55% of the Gold Jewellery demand, by weight. Between FY20 and FY24, the gold jewellery revenue of Titan, Senco Gold, and Kalyan Jewellers grew by a CAGR of 24%, 21%, and 16%, respectively. The primary contributor of this growth was wedding jewellery, which is 55% of the $70 billion gold jewellery market of India. This market is estimated to grow to $124 billion by 2027.

About 11% of the $84 billion apparel retail market comprises wedding and celebration wear, of which women’s wear accounts for nearly 70%-75% of the total market. Vedant Fashions (Manyawar), Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, Raymond, and Arvind Fashions are the key listed stocks in this category.

‘Arranged marriages’ comprise about 90% of marriages in India, about 6% of which are ‘arranged’ via Online matchmaking platforms. Matrimony.com (Bharat Matrimony) and Info Edge (Jeevansaathi) are two listed players currently operating in this segment, which are also dominant players in the segment.

According to the 2023-24 wedding industry report by WedMeGood, which surveyed over 2,400 brides and grooms (primarily in urban India), 21% of the surveyed couples had destination weddings, up from 18% in 2022. The rise of destination weddings presents a huge opportunity for the travel and hospitality segment. The key listed players in this segment are IHCL, EIH, Chalet Hotels, Lemon Tree, Park Hotels, Juniper Hotels, and airline companies such as IndiGo, SpiceJet etc.

Since weddings are a heavy expense, banks have also been getting creative with loans that especially cater to the wedding segment. IDFC First Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak, and Axis Bank are a few listed banks that offer financial services related to weddings.

The indirect beneficiaries of the wedding industry happen to be two-wheelers (motorcycles) and four-wheelers, consumer electronics, paints, travel bags, and footwear, as per Jefferies report.