Spree of nuptials unties some knots in demand

Weddings have been a blessing this year, not just for the couples but also for the inflation-weary economy. Sales of gold, jewellery, apparel, edible oil, packaged staples and household appliances have increased in the last two months of 2024. Industry executives said there has been an up to 25% year-onyear rise in sales of gold and jewellery during the core wedding season of November-December. For large packs of packaged staples such as rice, ghee and edible oil, sales grew by up to 15%, while increasing 6-8% for apparel. Strong consumer goods demand during the twomonth period is a rare bright spot in an otherwise muted Indian retail market this year.

Sales turned sluggish after surging during Diwali and promotional sales during Black Friday at November-end, amid consumer worries due to consistently high food inflation, executives said. A record number of weddings were solemnised through mid-December, with the season set to resume from mid-January.

“We have witnessed a 21% increase in wedding demand over last year, even though gold prices went up. For the main wedding day, people preferred heavy jewellery, while they bought lightweight jewellery for other wedding-related functions like haldi and mehendi,” said Baby George, chief executive of Joyalukkas.

India’s largest packaged edible oil company, Adani Wilmar saw demand for cooking oil and packaged basmati rice surpass last year, helped by a greater number of wedding days, chief executive Angshu Mallick said. According to him, sales of large packs increased 10-15% from a year earlier, and “wedding demand has come as a relief when retail consumption has come down during the quarter due to high inflation.”

The Confederation of All India Traders estimates that 4.8 million weddings were solemnised during October-December, generating business worth nearly Rs 6 lakh crore. This is over 35% higher than last year, which could potentially propel spending by 40%. As per latest data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, gold imports surged 30.7% from a year earlier during October-November.