Nagpur: Come November and its boom time for the wedding industry. Caterers, decorators, lawn owners, bichhayat kendra owners, hoteliers don’t have a moment to spare. But this year it is completely different. After going through a terrible phase, the industry is staring at a bleak future.
Lack of business for ten months has dried up the finances of many players. They have not paid salaries to their employees since months. People are having difficulty in repaying business, home, car and personal loans.
People in the industry say some marriages did take place this November, but they were not very many. Moreover, due to the cap of 50 attendees on functions, people did not spend much on them.
Ajit Joshi, a caterer, said most people have postponed their weddings to 2021. “Very few people want to do it with so few guests. You have to leave out a lot of close friends and relatives, which sours relationship with them permanently,” he added.
Joshi further said that with limited guests people had a tendency to order fewer dishes. “People think that when we are doing it on a small scale, why splurge money.”
Ravi Kurup of Kurup Catering Group echoed his views. “Business has not picked up. There are very few orders and they are for 30 or 40 people. Viability has become a big problem.”
Tarak Dewatighare, a decorator, has not got a single order post unlocking. “I have heard that some marriages have taken place but I am yet to get any business.”
Naresh Gudadhe, a bichhayat kendra owner, is also yet to get any business this season. “I am desperately waiting for orders,” he said.
JS Micky Arora of Hotel Centre Point, who rents out his halls for marriages and provides catering service, said there were very few bookings and the number of guests was low.
“We got some enquiries for December but with the government talking about another lockdown, people want assurance that their money would be refunded in case government enforces the lockdown,” Arora told TOI.
Vikas Mete, a decorator, said the biggest problem is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. “The government is not going to increase the cap on number of guests significantly until the general populace gets vaccinated. None of us knows when that is going to happen.”