Skift Take
In India, weddings get the grand stage while education waits in the wings.
Weddings are the second-largest consumption category in India, coming only after food and groceries, according to a report by brokerage firm Jefferies.
One stunning stat from the Jefferies report: The average Indian spends twice as much on a marriage ceremony than on education from pre-primary to postgraduation levels.
“An otherwise value-conscious society, Indians love to spend on weddings, which could be disproportionate to their level of income or wealth. And this is irrespective of the economic classes, as the tendency to overspend is seen across,” the report noted.
In the U.S., families spend less than half on weddings than on education.
The average wedding spend in India is INR 1.2 million ($14,400), which is over 5 times India's GDP per capita of $2,730. On average, an Indian household spends thre