ICICI Direct’s Twitter Thread Shows How Big Indian Wedding Industry Has Become

Indian weddings are an expensive and very lengthy affair. Weddings in India are sacred and goes for weeks and months when it comes to celebrating. People tend to spend a lot on weddings making it one of the most profitable businesses in the country.

From food to venue to the whole shebang, Indian weddings are never less than spectacular. There is a lot that goes into making the day a success. This benefits different businesses in so many ways. Hotels, jewelers, apparel, and more are among a few that get a lot of billings during the time.

ICICI Direct has posted a detailed thread about the extensive wedding business. As per the report, the Indian wedding industry made more than Rs 3.75 lakhs crore in November and December last year.

The report further gives a detailed description of all the segments that are involved in an Indian wedding and how they are benefitting today.

A 17-tweet-long thread was shared by ICICI Direct that is worth a read for sure.

₹3.75 lakh crore – this is what the Indian wedding industry made in November and December across 32 lakh weddings🤯

That’s more than auto market in India for reference. Let’s decode the Great Indian Wedding Industry and 4 businesses that benefit from it.

A thread 🧵
1/n pic.twitter.com/4fksqlok9L

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

2/n
India records around 1 cr weddings each year.

Not a surprise when you look at the age distribution of Indian population. Approx 40 crore Indians are in the age bucket of 20-34 years.

Another 50 crores are under 20 years, so the industry has a long revenue pipeline 🙂 pic.twitter.com/j4AvP4Vd3t

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

3/n

Let’s look at businesses that gain from India’s ‘wedding bonanza’.

Indian weddings leads to steady cash business for many sub-industries:

👩‍❤️‍👨Matrimony portals
💎 Jewellery
👗 Clothing
🏨 Hotels
🧳 Luggage

..and some others🍷🧑‍🍳

Let’s decode them👇

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

4/n
Business 1: Matrimony

As per a 2016 UN report, 88% of Indian weddings are arranged weddings!

And most happen on the basis of language and religion.

This is why matrimonial platforms like:
– Matrimony
– Jeevansathi
– Shaadi

enjoy ‘Micro-market Network Effects’ advantage.

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

5/n
Financials of matrimonial companies:

A. Matrimony (Rev, EBITDA) ₹cr
(Over 50% share of online market)

FY19 364 (90)
FY20 390 (72)
FY21 395 (85)
FY22 452 (104)

B. Jeevansathi (Rev, EBITDA) ₹cr
(loss making)

FY19 72 (-33)
FY20 85 (-62)
FY21 97 (-94)
FY22 100 (-114)

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

6/n
Let’s look at market leader https://t.co/2hU4Zjt0tf

– Has a strong user base in South India
– Enjoys a network effect as marriages in India happen on the basis of language

These ‘Micro Market Network Effects’ makes a platform very strong and discourages new entrants. pic.twitter.com/sj2uBTm5hX

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

7/n

Three key metrics to analyze a matrimony business:
– Paid users growth
– Average Revenue per user (ARPU)
– Marketing Spend as % of sales

Matrimony (Market cap: ₹1290 cr at 28 P/E) has ~50L users. Key metrics:

– Paid Users: 9L
– ARPU: ₹4.5-5k
– Marketing Spend: 37.31% pic.twitter.com/LAE3qarDWx

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

8/n
Business 2: Wedding wear (Clothing)

Some mind-boggling facts about India’s wedding wear market:

– Valued at ₹1.02 Lakh cr
– Only 20% mkt share of organized players
– To grow at 18% CAGR
– Brands get 70% gross margins🤑

Let’s talk about the top clothing brands in wedding👇

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

9/n
/Wedding wear

Which is the top brand on your mind?

Manyavar (#TaiyaarHoKarAaiye, #DulhanwaliFeeling)

It has 5 major brands grossing ~90% of its revenue
– Manyavar
– Mohey
– Mebaz
– Manthan
– Twamev

For details, check this:
Source: Vedant Fashions (Manyavar) RHP pic.twitter.com/TyJOlabw4V

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

10/n
/ Wedding wear

A retail clothing chain has two major costs:
– Manufacturing
– Brand Outlet Costs@Manyavar_ manages it through outsourcing and has:
– 300 franchise partners
– 535 exclusive brand outlets
– 1.12 Mn+ in sq ft area
– 73% partners with 3+ yrs of relationship

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

11/n

Manyavar helps its franchise partners with:
– Selecting location
– Staff Training
– Supply chain & inventory management

For reaching out to their target audience, Manyavar has stars like:
– Virat Kohli
– Anushka Sharma
– Amitabh Bachchan
– Ranveer Singh
– Alia Bhatt, etc pic.twitter.com/9OoO4xnH7T

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

12/n
/Wedding wear

Manyavar procures key raw materials from 450+ vendors and

Gets it manufactured from third parties

As a result of all this, it enjoys a business with:
– 70% Gross Margins
– 30% Operating Margin
….
A fascinating business built by Mr. Ravi Modi.

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

13/n
Business 3: Jewellery

They add sparkles to a wedding.

While Titan is known for watches, but its major revenue comes from Jewellery (Tanishq, Zoya).

It captured a key trend:
– In 2000, 95% of jewellery sold was via unorganized dealers.
– In 2022, the number stands at 65% pic.twitter.com/i3HxLDLcRI

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

14/n
/ Jewellery Business

With strong factors like:
– Trustworthy hallmark jewellery
– Pan India presence
– Variety in designs

Not just Tanishq is poised to grow, but other brands as well like:
– Malabar
– Kalyan (L)
– TBZ
– Joyallukas
– Goldiam (Artificial jewellery) – (L)

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

15/n

Trivia: Did you know that current RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das was the Chairman of Titan from 2006 to 2008!

Trivia 2: Tanishq has 1,000 Cr+ in customer deposits.

Here’s a great read on how Tanishq was revived from brink of closure.https://t.co/Ol8YUR9yOK

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

16/n
Business 4: Luggages

A surprising fact is that 80% of the suitcases are purchased for weddings. Has higher revenue from weddings than from travel.

Post wedding, the bride generally carries her luggage in 3-4 suitcases.

Two big players in this industry are:
– VIP
– Safari pic.twitter.com/exwN9Qmzzc

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023

17/n

That’s a wrap. There are more businesses such as Hotels, alcohol, foods that gain from the Indian wedding extravaganza.

Follow us (@ICICI_Direct) for more research content.
And retweet this thread to tell more people about the big fat Indian wedding industry.#icicidirect

— ICICIdirect (@ICICI_Direct) January 5, 2023