‘Durga Pooja’ in Bengal – is a celebration of life. It is an emotion. It is celebrated as ‘Navrathri’ across the country but nothing can beat the festivities in Bengal. It is the week long festival which connects the hearts of Bengalis and Indians across geographies. The ingrained beauty of Durga Pooja in Kolkata got inscribed in the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage too!
The festival is also a major economic powerhouse to the region and provides employment and income to artists, artisans and labourers on various scales.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of West Bengal and the British Council and the research was commissioned through Queen Mary University of London supported by IIT, Kharagpur and Smart Cube, Bangalore to map the creative economy around Durga Puja by studying the economic worth of specific creative industries of West Bengal.
This article summarises the above research report (available here) highlighting both the festive fervour and its economic importance – the many forward and backward linkages between the festival and economic growth through employment generation.
The report estimates the economic worth of the creative industries around Durga Puja in West Bengal at INR 32,377 crores (~USD 4.5b) and accounts for 2.58% of the state’s GDP. Yes, you read it right. That’s almost the size of the economy of many smaller countries across the world.
Pandals are the central point of each puja and the operations begin almost three to four before the festival. They are painstakingly built following traditional principles while at the same time imbibing modern themes. The installation, art and the decoration of pandals is estimated to be ~860 crores and employs numerous artists in the process. The budget for each pandal can vary from 2.5 lakhs for the smaller ones to 2.5 crores for the bigger ones.
Idols are the testament to our artisan’s skill and craftsmanship. The current artisans who make idols have learnt the art form from their families and also from art colleges through formal training. A motivating trend is to see an increase in the number of female artists choosing this profession. The idols are made today with baked clay, coconut husk and eco friendly colours making them more sustainable. Idol Making is estimated to be ~260-280 crores and are exported to various parts of the world. The artisans make around 500 to 2000 per day depending on their skill level. The study highlights that 18% of the idol making studios/businesses in Kumartuli Area make more than 60 lakhs per year, especially those exporting them across the world.
Lighting and Illumination makes the entire puja scene to look like a magnanimous carnival (~205 crores). An estimated 52MW of electricity is used by ~4400 connections for Puja Committees, just in Kolkata.
Many publishers release their special editions of Puja periodicals (or Barshikis), with targeted content to be read through Puja holidays. It is estimated that a puja periodical can garner upto 50 lakhs in advertisement revenue to each publisher.
Quoting Bernard Shaw – There is no love sincere than the love of food. It is the time to feast! Who can miss the ‘Mishti Doi’ and the Rasgulla? From high restaurants to the street vendors, they are just flocked by eager customers waiting to enjoy the good food. The F&B sales in the Durga Pooja month is estimated to 1.3X of any regular month in West Bengal. The ‘Bhog Prasad’ (the meal which is offered to Goddess Ma Durga and then to her worshippers) forms the integral part of the Pooja’s F&B spend. The entire F&B spend is ~2,854 crores and the bhog prasad itself was estimated to be at 19.9 crores in 2019.
A festival doesn’t get complete without shopping. From traditional Bengali fashion (White & Red Garad sarees to Dhoti/Pyjama) to electronic accessories to jewellery – it is usually a shopping spree. Per Capita Retail Sales during Durga Pooja is estimated to be ~2.7k in West Bengal.
The entertainment industry flourishes in all its forms – the movie releases, in-pandal and out-of-pandal entertainment and the traditional ‘Dhaki’ players – make it such a memorable occasion! There are so many avenues for advertising like the gates, banners, bill boards and other digital OOH (Out of Home), Space on Hire (SOH), hypermarket & supermarkets and transit media (buses, trains, metros, autos, taxis, etc).
The additional influx of tourist arrivals both from foreign countries and domestic tourists and families returning to celebrate the festivities with their dear ones; make the festival such a joyous occasion. Saptami is the busiest day in the Kolkata airport; and more than 2 lakh visitors arrive through the airport during the five Pooja holidays. And more than 9 lakhs arrive through the rails too!
The festivities also directly impacts the other allied industries such as logistics (delivery of idols, raw materials, etc.), banking, financial services and insurance and also increased remittances including national and international flows. It has a tremendous positive impact on the small scale retailers and micro, nano entrepreneurs/artisans enriching their livelihood.
As Ma Durga saves the world from destruction, she also acts as a central pillar providing livelihood and prosperity to so many people! Indeed, Durga Pooja is an emotion!