How much India spends on weddings, how many weddings there are, what one costs, when the season falls, where the money goes, gold and jewellery, loans, destination weddings, Delhi NCR and the jobs the season creates.
Key takeaways
CAIT projected 6.50 lakh crore rupees of business from the November to December 2025 wedding season in India.
CAIT expected 46 lakh weddings across India between 1 November and 14 December 2025.
Jefferies sized India’s wedding industry at about USD 130 billion a year, second only to the United States, as reported by The Week.
Matrimony.com estimates 11 to 13 million weddings a year in India.
The average Indian wedding costs around 12 lakh rupees, about USD 14,500, Jefferies estimated as reported by The Week.
The average wedding budget on the WedMeGood platform reached about 39.5 lakh rupees in 2025, up 8% on 2024, as reported by PTI.
Jewellery takes 15% of wedding spend, the largest single goods category in CAIT’s 2025 breakdown.
India bought 430.5 tonnes of gold jewellery in 2025, 24% less than the 563.4 tonnes of 2024, as record prices bit.
Bridal jewellery accounts for 50% to 55% of India’s gold jewellery market by weight.
Bank loans against gold jewellery in India stood at 5.1 trillion rupees at the end of May 2026, up 105% in a year.
One in four weddings on the WedMeGood platform in 2025 was a destination wedding, as reported by PTI.
Delhi alone was expected to host 4.8 lakh weddings in the 2025 season.
CAIT expected the 2025 wedding season to create over 1 crore temporary and part-time jobs.
The November to December 2024 season had 18 auspicious wedding dates, against 11 in the same season of 2023, CAIT noted.
How big is the Indian wedding industry?
CAIT projected 6.50 lakh crore rupees of business from the November to December 2025 wedding season in India.
Source: Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2025 release, 10 November 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
CAIT measures the November to December season only, and its estimates are projections made before the season. Jefferies counts the whole year.
See these figures as a table
| Item | Lakh crore rupees |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.75 |
| 2023 | 4.74 |
| 2024 | 5.90 |
| 2025 | 6.50 |
- CAIT expected 46 lakh weddings across India between 1 November and 14 December 2025.
- CAIT puts the 2024 season at 48 lakh weddings and 5.90 lakh crore rupees of business.
- CAIT puts the 2023 season at 38 lakh weddings and 4.74 lakh crore rupees.
- CAIT puts the 2022 season at 32 lakh weddings and 3.75 lakh crore rupees.
- CAIT’s 2025 estimate came from a study of 75 major cities between 15 and 25 October 2025.
- CAIT estimated about 75,000 crore rupees of GST and other tax revenue from the 45-day 2025 wedding season.
- Over 70% of wedding purchases in the 2025 season were expected to be Indian-made goods, CAIT said.
- Jefferies sized India’s wedding industry at about USD 130 billion a year, second only to the United States, as reported by The Week.
- Jefferies put the US wedding market at USD 70 billion and China’s at USD 170 billion, as reported by The Week.
- Matrimony.com, the listed matrimony company, cites marriage-related spending of about USD 50 billion a year before Covid.
How many weddings happen in India each year?
Matrimony.com estimates 11 to 13 million weddings a year in India.
Source: Matrimony.com Ltd, investor presentation Q1 FY27, 11 August 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
India has no official count of weddings, which is why three estimates from three different industries are shown rather than one figure.
- The World Gold Council also estimates 11 to 13 million weddings a year in India, in the absence of official records.
- Jefferies counted 8 to 10 million weddings a year in India, as reported by The Week.
How much does an Indian wedding cost?
The average Indian wedding costs around 12 lakh rupees, about USD 14,500, Jefferies estimated as reported by The Week.
Source: Jefferies, as reported by The Week, 25 June 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2026. Cited as reported; the original is not public.
The Jefferies average covers every wedding in the country, while the WedMeGood average covers couples who plan on its platform, so the two measure different weddings.
- Indian wedding spend is about five times the country’s GDP per capita of USD 2,900, and more than three times the average annual household income of 4 lakh rupees, Jefferies noted.
- A wedding costs nearly twice what a couple’s families spend on about 18 years of education, Jefferies estimated.
- CAIT’s 2024 model had 10 lakh weddings at 3 lakh rupees each, 10 lakh at 6 lakh, 10 lakh at 10 lakh, 10 lakh at 15 lakh, 7 lakh at 25 lakh, 50,000 at 50 lakh and 50,000 at 1 crore rupees or more.
- The average wedding budget on the WedMeGood platform reached about 39.5 lakh rupees in 2025, up 8% on 2024, as reported by PTI.
When is the Indian wedding season, and what does it bring in?
CAIT counted the 2025 wedding season as 1 November to 14 December 2025.
Source: Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2025 release, 10 November 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- The November to December 2024 season had 18 auspicious wedding dates, against 11 in the same season of 2023, CAIT noted.
- The 2024 muhurat dates were 12, 13, 17, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28 and 29 November and 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16 December.
- CAIT’s November 2024 release expected 48 lakh weddings and nearly 6 lakh crore rupees of business in the November to December 2024 season.
- CAIT’s November 2024 release recorded the 2023 season at 35 lakh weddings and 4.25 lakh crore rupees, a figure its 2025 release later revised.
- On 26 November 2023 the Prime Minister used Mann Ki Baat to ask families to hold weddings in India rather than abroad, citing trade estimates of about 5 lakh crore rupees of business in that season.
Where does wedding money go?
Jewellery takes 15% of wedding spend, the largest single goods category in CAIT’s 2025 breakdown.
Source: Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2025 release, 10 November 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
See these figures as a table
| Item | Percent |
|---|---|
| Jewellery | 15 |
| Apparel and sarees | 10 |
| Catering | 10 |
| Event management | 5 |
| Electronics | 5 |
| Dry fruit and sweets | 5 |
| Gift items | 4 |
| Travel and hospitality | 3 |
| Photography | 2 |
- Apparel and sarees take 10% of wedding spend.
- Catering takes 10% of wedding spend, the largest service category.
- Event management takes 5% of wedding spend.
- Electronics and electricals take 5% of wedding spend.
- Dry fruit and sweets take 5% of wedding spend, and grocery and vegetables another 5%.
- Gift items take 4% of wedding spend, and floral decoration 4%.
- Travel and hospitality take 3% of wedding spend, musical groups 3%, and light and sound 3%.
- Photography and videography take 2% of wedding spend.
- Digital content and social media coverage take 1% to 2% of wedding budgets, CAIT said.
- Sales of online invitations and AI-based planning tools grew 20% to 25% in the 2025 season, CAIT said.
How much gold do Indian weddings buy?
Bridal jewellery accounts for 50% to 55% of India’s gold jewellery market by weight.
Source: World Gold Council, Jewellery demand and trade: India gold market series, 19 January 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
See these figures as a table
| Item | Tonnes |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 611 |
| 2024 | 563.4 |
| 2025 | 430.5 |
- India bought 430.5 tonnes of gold jewellery in 2025, 24% less than the 563.4 tonnes of 2024, as record prices bit.
- Indian gold jewellery demand was 563.4 tonnes in 2024.
- Festival and wedding buying lifted Indian jewellery demand to 145.3 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2025.
- In value terms Indians spent a record USD 49 billion on gold jewellery in 2025, with USD 19 billion in the fourth quarter alone.
- The local gold price in India rose 74% over 2025.
- Global gold jewellery consumption fell to a five-year low of 1,542 tonnes in 2025.
- India bought 75.1 tonnes of gold jewellery in the April to June 2026 quarter, 15.4% less by weight but 34.4% more by value than a year earlier.
- Indian jewellery demand in the first half of 2026 was 141.2 tonnes, worth 2,131.3 billion rupees.
- The MCX spot gold price averaged 1,50,733 rupees in the June 2026 quarter, 58.9% higher than a year earlier, the World Gold Council reported.
- Indian bar and coin investment reached 112.5 tonnes in the first half of 2026, the highest first half in 13 years.
- Weddings were the number one occasion for buying gold in India, named by 17% of buyers in the World Gold Council’s consumer research.
- India bought 611 tonnes of gold jewellery in 2021, second only to China’s 673 tonnes.
- Gold pieces of 25 grams and above are classed as bridal products in India’s jewellery trade.
How are Indian weddings financed?
Bank loans against gold jewellery in India stood at 5.1 trillion rupees at the end of May 2026, up 105% in a year.
Source: World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends: India Focus Q2 2026, 30 July 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
No regulator publishes wedding loans as a category. Gold-backed and personal loans are the closest published measures of borrowing around the season.
- NBFC gold loans reached 3.3 trillion rupees by May 2026, up 70% year on year.
- Retail loans backed by gold jewellery with Indian banks stood at 3.6 trillion rupees at the end of 2025, up 125% year on year.
- Bank credit to personal loans grew 16.2% year on year in July 2026, against 11.9% a year earlier, the RBI reported.
- NBFC retail loan growth accelerated to 22.0% year on year in August 2026 from 13.6% a year earlier, with gold-jewellery loans among the fastest growing.
How common are destination weddings?
One in four weddings on the WedMeGood platform in 2025 was a destination wedding, as reported by PTI.
Source: WedMeGood, as reported by PTI in the Free Press Journal, 24 December 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026. Cited as reported; the original is not public.
- The average destination wedding on WedMeGood cost about 58 lakh rupees in 2025, up from 51.1 lakh rupees in 2024, as reported by PTI.
- The Ministry of Tourism launched a wedding tourism campaign on 19 August 2023 that profiles about 25 key destinations across India.
- A Wed in India expo was held in Jaipur on 5 May 2024 with the Rajasthan government and FICCI, the Ministry of Tourism told the Lok Sabha.
How big is the wedding market in Delhi NCR?
Delhi alone was expected to host 4.8 lakh weddings in the 2025 season.
Source: Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2025 release, 10 November 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- Delhi’s 2025 wedding season was expected to generate 1.8 lakh crore rupees of trade.
- In the 2024 season CAIT expected 4.5 lakh weddings in Delhi contributing about 1.5 lakh crore rupees.
How many jobs does the wedding industry create?
CAIT expected the 2025 wedding season to create over 1 crore temporary and part-time jobs.
Source: Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2025 release, 10 November 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
No official employment survey separates wedding work from catering, retail, hospitality and events, so the trade body’s seasonal estimate is the only published figure.
How to cite this page
Suggested citation:
Evara Matrimony (2026). Indian Wedding Industry Statistics 2026. https://evaramatrimony.com/statistics/indian-wedding-industry
Permanent link: https://evaramatrimony.com/statistics/indian-wedding-industry. The URL carries no year, so a link keeps working when the page is refreshed.
You may quote any figure on this page with a link to it. Please keep the original publisher’s name beside the number, as it is here, and name Evara Matrimony as the page that collected it.
Methodology
This page holds 63 statistics from 13 source pages. 54 come from the organisation that produced the number (85.7%) and 9 are cited as reported because the original is not public. The oldest source is dated 19 January 2023 and the newest 6 October 2026. Every source was read on 14 October 2026.
Each statistic was traced to the organisation that produced it: a trade body’s own release (CAIT), the World Gold Council’s own demand reports, the Reserve Bank of India, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Tourism, or a listed company’s investor presentation (Matrimony.com Ltd).
Two sources are not public: the Jefferies research note and the WedMeGood platform report, whose website refuses automated requests. Their figures are marked secondary and attributed to the outlet that reported them. Nothing is taken from another statistics round-up.
CAIT revised its own 2023 and 2024 season figures in its 2025 release. Both the original and the revised numbers are shown, each with the release it came from, and the chart uses the 2025 release’s series throughout.
Every source page was opened on 14 October 2026 and the number confirmed on it. A script re-fetches every source and checks the number is still there; sources that block automated requests are noted rather than passed silently.
Sources
- Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2025 release
- Jefferies, as reported by The Week
- Matrimony.com Ltd, investor presentation Q1 FY27
- World Gold Council, Jewellery demand and trade: India gold market series
- Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), wedding season 2024 release
- WedMeGood, as reported by PTI in the Free Press Journal
- Prime Minister’s Office, text of Mann Ki Baat, 107th episode
- World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2025, jewellery
- World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends: India Focus Q2 2026
- Reserve Bank of India, Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit, July 2026
- Reserve Bank of India, Sectoral Deployment of Credit by NBFC, August 2026
- Ministry of Tourism, press release on the wedding tourism campaign (PIB)
- Ministry of Tourism, Lok Sabha reply on wedding tourism (PIB)