{"id":25992,"date":"2025-01-13T15:10:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/marketing\/how-gods-drive-indias-consumer-economy-marketing-advertising-news-et-brandequity\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T15:10:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:10:34","slug":"how-gods-drive-indias-consumer-economy-marketing-advertising-news-et-brandequity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=25992","title":{"rendered":"How gods drive India’s consumer economy, Marketing & Advertising News, ET BrandEquity"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"<p>Seers
Seers at a procession on the eve of Maha Kumbh 2025 (file image)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maha Kumbh Mela<\/a>, the Hindu festival which is the world’s biggest gathering of humans, has started today at Prayagraj on Paush Purnima with the ‘Shahi Snan’, a bathing ritual. While the 45-day religious event is considered a rare occasion for spiritual growth, it’s also known for its pomp and show, with thousands of religious gurus and saints as well as crores of devotees congregating for a dip in the sacred waters. The world’s biggest gathering of humans is also a much-awaited event for India’s consumer businesses. In fact, the Kumbh is the most visible part of a big driver of India’s economy, the festival cycle.Festivals, small as well as big, are crucial to India’s economy because it is driven by consumers. Consumption accounts for nearly 60% of the GDP. India’s economic rise in the past three decades, after the liberalisation, is largely on the back of consumption growth. Now India is expected to become the third-largest consumer market in the world in a few years.<\/p>\n

Consumer goods companies pin their hopes on numerous festivals all the year round to boost their sales, specially when the consumption is ebbing. The Maha Kumbh<\/a> at Paryagraj is no exception.<\/p>\n

The mega business of Maha Kumbh<\/h2>\n

The Maha Kumbh has a budget of about Rs 12,670 crore, including both the state and central spending. With crores of people visiting Prayagraj during the Kumbh, they will generate huge business. India\u2019s population is about 140 crore. The administration estimates 40 crore people are likely to visit the Maha kumbh. That\u2019s more than a fourth of India visiting a temporary district over just 45 days \u2013 or close to 90 lakh people on an average every day. The money they spend can total up to Rs 2 lakh crore.Not just that. India’s leading companies hope to capture eyeballs and test new products at the Mela. Brands are estimated to spend about Rs 3,600 crore on advertising and marketing around Maha Kumbh, about 25% of which will be allocated for outdoor advertising, business and brand strategy specialist Harish Bijoor has told TOI. \u201cBrands want maximum visibility to be packaged around the six snans. Almost 70% of overall branding spends at the Kumbh Mela<\/a> are centred around the snans, through the 45-day event,\u201d Kunal Lalani, chairman of Crayons Advertising, which holds advertising rights for the Maha Kumbh, has told ET.ITC, Coca-Cola, Adani Group, Hindustan Unilever, Dabur, Bisleri, Park+, Emami, Reliance Consumer Products, Bank of Baroda and SpiceJet are among those that have bought branding rights, as per executives organising the mega event. \u201cOur activities (at the Kumbh) will be amplified through social media platforms and influencer collaborations to reach a wider audience,\u201d Gaurav Tayal, divisional chief executive, matches and agarbatti division at ITC, has told ET.<\/p>\n

Executives said they are tapping into consumers from tier 2 and 3 cities as well as leveraging the opportunity to offer first-time samplings to international visitors.<\/p>\n

Startups and tech platforms in segments such as spiritual apps, in addition to travel and hospitality, too have prepared the ground to capitalise on the Kumbh Mela.<\/p>\n

Events like Maha Kumbh allow brands to cash in on moment marketing – the visibility becomes manifold and most brands use this as an opportunity to showcase their innovation, Sandeep Goyal, chairman at Rediffusion, has told TOI. Besides, Maha Kumbh can act as a good testing ground for brands – they can gauge consumer feedback for new products they plan to push to wider markets and strategise accordingly. “Such events allow brands to do test marketing which otherwise can be difficult,” said Goyal.<\/p>\n

India’s festival cycle is a key economic driver<\/h2>\n

It’s not just Maha Kumbh India’s consumer companies are turning to at a time when consumption is slowing down and the Indian consumers are counting every penny they spend. Every time when consumption gets sluggish, companies pin their hopes on festivals which occur round the year, but most are clustered in winters when the biggest festival, Diwali, happens. India’s main festivals are also connected to the agriculture cycle thus becoming the opportune time when the consumer has cash in pocket and an auspicious time to spend.<\/p>\n

Though rain gods preside over India’s economy, where majority of workers are in the agricultural sector, consumer companies need the blessings of all the gods for better business round the year. While the Christmas season in Western countries and shopping festivals such as Singles Day in China are equivalent of Indian festival consumption, they pale in comparison to the influence Indian festivals hold on consumer goods sales because they are so numerous and occur all the year round. From FMCG companies to luxury car makers, all eye the festival season for a bump in sales.<\/p>\n

The demand slowdown in the second quarter in FY25 is expected to have moderated in the third quarter mainly due to festival sales even though they too were impacted by the overall economic trend.<\/p>\n

Festivals also create jobs. Over 12 lakh gig or freelance roles were posted during the 2024 festive season, which is 23 per cent more than last year driven by the rise of e-commerce, tech advancements, and the transition to flexible, on-demand roles post-pandemic, as per a report by Avsar, an end-to-end recruitment solutions provider. The report was based on an analysis of data collected from Avsar’s platform, covering key sectors such as logistics, retail, e-commerce, and customer support, with a focus on geographic demand shifts between metro and tier II cities.<\/p>\n

Festival season also helps local small businesses grow. Bolstered by e-commerce, small direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands thrive during festivals. D2C brands outpaced marketplaces during the 2024 festive sales period, recording a 64% growth in orders from last year, compared to the 26% growth seen on marketplaces, as per Gokwik. Earlier, D2C brands used to witness a dip in orders during this time, but the wheel has shifted since last year.<\/p>\n

In addition to festival sales, the temples too are proving to be drivers of business in their regions. The newly constructed Ram temple in Ayodhya and the infrastructure upgrade and renovation of Kashi Vishwanath complex in Varanasi have given a big boost to the regional economy as well as fuelling religious travel.<\/p>\n

India’s consumption plot thickens<\/h2>\n

Festivals have been a central feature for India’s businesses because people must spend even when they are tight-fisted as festivals are considered auspicious for purchase of goods — from utensils to home appliances to gold to cars and bikes to houses.<\/p>\n

Now with disposable incomes rising, India’s consumption story is expected to strengthen and no longer remain significantly dependent on festival seasons. Indian consumer is slowly rising above buying basic necessities. While festivals sales too will boom with rising purchasing power, the increasing size of middle class, which has money to spare for discretionary purchases, will translate in higher year-round consumption.<\/p>\n

Indians are not as worried about food, clothes and shelter — the very basic needs for survival — as they used to be 10 years ago. Roti, kapda aur makaan indicated the struggle of common Indians for bare necessities. A radical shift in the way Indians consume has taken place in the past decade. According to the National Account Statistics 2024 data, consumers have shifted towards services and discretionary spending, away from basics such as food, clothing and housing.<\/p>\n

The share of essentials has declined in private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) between FY13 and FY23 while that on health and education among others rose. Health saw 8.2% growth and education 7.5% growth. Housing expenses dropped from 16.4% to 13% and clothing from 6.1% to 4.8%. Transport and communication also saw substantial growth at 8.2% and 7.8% respectively. Food and beverages remain the largest spending category, but their share decreased from 30.5% to 28.2%. Within this category, packaged food experienced the highest growth at 10.4%, followed by meat (8.7%), fish and seafood (8.3%), and eggs (7.1%). These numbers would suggest that the Indian middle class is growing, as people rise above struggling for bare necessities and start spending more on health and education, which indicates an aspirational drive, or on discretionary items which indicates purchasing power.<\/p>\n

(With inputs from TOI)<\/em><\/p>\n

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