Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the call, “Wed in India.” It seems to be a fascinating counterpart to “Make in India” and maybe way simpler to orchestrate. Undoubtedly, the target audience is affluent Indians, as the initiative seeks to reincorporate up to ₹1-lakh crore annually by encouraging domestic weddings and redirecting funds from overseas destination weddings. The PM highlighted the need for a change and voiced concern about the trend of affluent families choosing foreign locations for weddings. Earlier, the PM also proposed the idea of “Wed in India” in his “Man Ki Baat” speech on November 26 and urged people to choose destination weddings within the country.

Do wealthy people’s weddings really matter that much for the economy? Yes, interestingly, despite being a relatively undeveloped and unorganised industry, weddings generate trillions in economic value worldwide and in India too, thanks to their many components, which include gifts, invitations, venue and catering services, decorations, event planning, logistics, photography, and makeup. Every year, tens of thousands are spent on wedding attire, travel, hotel accommodations, and jewellery. And then there are the extravagant pre-wedding and honeymoon celebrations. According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the mainline retail sector, which includes goods and services, expects a phenomenal business worth ₹4.74-lakh crore from the estimated 38 lakh weddings that take place each year around the country.

Undoubtedly, countries like Italy, Malaysia, the UAE, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey are taking advantage of “pent-up demand” from the multi-billion-dollar Indian wedding market. The PM’s “nudge” to encourage celebrities and the wealthy to have their weddings in India rather than abroad may become a major economic booster because weddings mean mega business in India.

Destination weddings

Well, will big, fat Indian weddings now be truly “deshi”? Would the big-hyped future Indian weddings like the ones involving Rani Mukherjee and Aditya Chopra, Priya Runchal and John Abraham, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, and Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh routinely take place in India now onwards? Maybe partially.

So why not extend the horizon even more by incorporating “Destination Wedding” as an integrated part of tourism as well? Can a global “Wed in India” campaign, for instance, encourage more weddings in the vein of Elizabeth Hurley-Arun Nayar or Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas in Agra, Rajasthan, Kerala, or Uttarakhand, for example? Is there more room for economic growth through this as well?

Remember, though, that one in each pair in the two examples above had a strong India connection. We might even aim to bring more weddings to India that follow the Katy Perry-Russell Brand-type model. While on tour in India in 2009, actor Russell Brand proposed to American singer Katy Perry outside the Taj Mahal. A year later, they came back to marry in a luxurious resort outside of Ranthambore sanctuary, following Indian customs.

Well, to highlight India as a top wedding destination, India’s tourism ministry launched an extensive “India Says I Do” campaign in August. This initiative aims to showcase India as a wedding venue and unlock the vast potential of the country’s wedding market. By covering a variety of wedding themes, such as beach weddings, nature-themed celebrations, regal weddings, Himalayan nuptials, and more, the campaign aims to redefine India’s perception beyond opulent, grandiose weddings.

Perhaps because of the many Bollywood films and international TV shows with Indian wedding themes, there has been a passive yet magnificent drive throughout the years to promote weddings in India and/or in the Bollywood manner. Bollywood still maintains an unshakeable influence over India’s wedding industry, even 30 years after wedding films like Hum Apke Hai Koun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) [DDLJ] translated “Indian culture” onto celluloid. Honestly so. Couples’ fascination with Bollywood weddings, which are “larger than life” due to their inventive, opulent and exotic aspects, has been piqued by Westerners watching the many customs like Sangeet, Mehendi, Saat Pheras, and so on.

A dhol, family cooks, neighbourhood phoolwallas and darzi, and the traditional band were all part of DDLJ, which could eventually create a mesmerising Jaa Jee le apni zindagi-type magical moment. Even three decades later, a splash of that kind of alchemy may still work wonders for the economy. Maybe with even more rigour. Trillions of rupees are just waiting to be plucked. Really.

The writer is Professor of Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata