India's big weddings are back | FNP Venues and weddings expect over 100% growth this year

The big fat Indian weddings are back. A market that is worth $50 billion came to a complete standstill in the last 2 years due to COVID-19 restrictions but the sector is hoping this wedding season will bring back its shine.

The wedding season starts from November and goes on to February, The sector is expecting 3.2 million weddings in the country versus just 2.5 million in the previous year. With the wedding season returning in full force, hotel bookings, wedding planners, jewellery industry, food and sweets segments are back in demand.

Vikaas Gutgutia, Founder and Managing Director at Ferns and Petals is expecting a 100 percent growth for the sector this year.

“Wedding is the time when the demand and supply in flowers hit the roof. On an annual basis, wedding probably consumes two-third of the total flower consumption of the country. If I compare it with the pre-wedding year which is 2019 to now, I can definitely see 100 percent jump,” he said.

With weddings returning to their full glory, demand for commodities such as jewellery, sugar, edible oil and food grains everything is picking up. The jewellery sector is expecting to see 10-12 percent higher demand as compared to pre-COVID levels. India being the second largest consumer of gold, World Gold Council says 50 percent of demand comes from weddings or jewellery.

That's not the only commodity seeing a boost in demand.

India's sugar market estimates to record 27.5 million tonnes of demand in this year with chocolates, sweets and cakes driving growth. Edible oil imports have also risen during this wedding season.

So is this wedding season a year of recovery?

Surendra Mehta, Secretary of India Bullion and Jewellers Association and Atul Chaturvedi, Executive Chairman at Shree Renuka Sugars discussed further.