Crash diet for the Big Fat Indian wedding

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bombshell has caught the common man and many sectors unawares. But for the short term, it’s the big fat Indian Wedding that will be the worst hit.

Planners estimate that at least 50,000 weddings this season in the Capital will be affected.  

It is an open secret that most weddings organised in the Capital — to the tune of Rs1 crore or more, 60 per cent of the payments are usually made in cash, whereas the remaining amount is taken in cheque.

However, all this is likely to stop now. Wedding planners are still in a state of shock admitting that the banning of Rs500 and Rs 1,000 notes will be a big hit on their business. Mumbai-based wedding planner Nikita Desai said frankly, “We will now have to pay tax on everything. I estimate that weddings will be 30 per cent more expensive now.”  

A Delhi-resident who refused to be named admitted that payments will take a hit. “Both my brother and sister are getting married this week. Though most of the major payments have been done, how the balance will be paid is uncertain,” he said. “We will now have to accept whatever terms and conditions the vendors will impose on us,” he said.

29-year-old Nipun Sehrawat who is getting married in December is not so worried. Sehrawat, a management consultant said, “Our entire family income is generated in white, so it’s not that much of a problem. However, smaller expenses - like paying for the horse, the flowers, among other petty expenses, will be hit.”

Wedding planners claim that weddings in November will not be so badly hit since almost all payments are done. However weddings in December, where only half of the payments have been made in cheque, will be the worst hit if the prime minister sticks to his deadline for exchanging money. 30-year-old Mayank who is getting married this December said, “I am still trying to digest the news.”

Mayank, who recently withdrew money from his account to pay one vendor is badly affected. “I was saving 30 per cent if I paid in cash,” he said, adding that he is now stuck with this money. “Though, on a larger scale the move is a welcome one,” Mayank says, he is of the opinion that people should have been given more time.

Sehrawat feels that it’s not just the wedding season, but everyday life will also be badly hit. “We do not live in a plastic money age. Simple day to day expenditure is still largely cash based, how is one going to cope with it in the immediate future.”

A Mumbai-based industrialist confessed, “I don’t know what to do now. 40 percent payments are done, though the balance which I was planning to pay in cash is pending.”

The resident, who did not wish to be named says that their expenses will have to be severely curtailed and alternate arrangements will now have to be made to pay the remaining expenses. He however takes solace in the fact that this move not only affects industrialists, builders, diamond merchants among others, but also drastically affects all those who have taken a bribe.

The industrialist said, “All corrupt officials who took bribes have become paupers overnight. All the money they have hidden at home is as worthless as toilet-paper now.”