New
Delhi, Oct 23: Upcoming wedding season starting in November may be
impacted by 10-15 per cent particularly wedding services like marriage
garden/marriage hall booking, tent booking, confectionery services, photography
and more, revealed by industry chamber Assocham. The factors attributed are
demonetisation together with Goods and Services Tax (GST) are likely to impact
the upcoming wedding season in India as people will have to shell out more on
buying jewellery and apparels, at salons and beauty parlours, photography, even
for hiring venues like hotels/marriage palaces, courier and other related
services, said the Assocham. It is being estimated that the average cost of
many wedding services like shopping, tent booking and food services is higher due
to GST. The GST rate on most of these services is from 18 to 28 per cent.
Before GST, most of the wedding service businesses like tent services and
confectionery booking were using unregistered bills on which they didn’t have
to pay any tax, adds the paper. Destination wedding or the wedding tourism
sector in India which accounts for less than 10 per cent share in the overall
industry is not likely to face much adverse impact of GST and demonetisation as
it is already a very costly affair which mainly lures foreigners, NRIs, rich
and famous people for exotic weddings at beaches, royal palaces, adventurous
places, said the Assocham paper. However, all footwear above Rs 500 is taxed at
a whopping 18 per cent. Tax on gold and diamond jewellery has increased from
1.6 per cent to 3 per cent. The booking for a 5-star hotel will cost 28 per
cent extra in the form of GST. Also, event management service, will have to pay
an additional 18 per cent GST on the cost. GST on marriage garden and hall
booking is also 18 per cent, same as most other wedding services. Many people
prefer to purchase wedding groceries and other items on due bills because of
the unavailability of cash amount but under GST, the traders might not be
willing to sell commodities with due bills.
As per
the estimate, on average, a person in India spends one-fifth of their wealth on
wedding functions. Facing an increase in the cost of several items required in
Indian wedding, families are either revising their budget or looking to slash
expenses to ensure they don't exceed the original budget by a big margin. In
India, Goa is the most popular destination for Indian beach weddings and the
palaces and forts of Rajasthan are also sought after, while Bali and Dubai are
desirable spots for weddings overseas, added the Assocham findings. Currently,
the Indian wedding industry is about 1 trillion rupees and is growing at 25 to
30 per cent annually. The estimated cost of a wedding with no expenses spared
could be between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 8 crore, in India, adds the paper. Everyone
from those in entertainment to décor, beauty clinics, cosmetic giants, travel,
tourism and even matrimonial web sites are making money out of marriages. Even
foreigners, who want to solemnize their marriage in India, contribute to the Indian
wedding industry. Online portals like Shaadi.com, Bharat matrimonials and
others rack up revenues of Rs 300-350 crore from match-making annually, and
believe the business can only get bigger. There are wedding planners in the
country who are ready to make all arrangements required in an Indian wedding,
from beginning to end, for a whopping increase.
UNI
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