Bengal’s 2025 Durga Puja economy rebounds by 10-15 pc to Rs 46,000–50,000 cr
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Dated:- 30-9-2025
PTI
Kolkata, Sep 30 (PTI) West Bengal’s Durga Puja economy in 2025 rebounded strongly, expanding by an estimated 10–15 per cent to touch around Rs 46,000–50,000 crore after a decline last year, stakeholders said.
Buoyant corporate sponsorships, healthy footfalls in malls, rising spending on consumer goods and a positive sentiment among people are major contributors to the growth, they said.
The festival – recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage- remains a major economic driver for Bengal, thriving retail, hospitality, transport and handicraft sectors, and it is often believed that business activities surrounding the Durga Puja contribute at least a third of the stateÂ’s GDP.
State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya told PTI that BengalÂ’s Puja economy will definitely “see strong growth this year”.
“This year, the puja economy will definitely witness stro
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as “very good,” with major clubs raising rates.
“The average hike was around 15 per cent. Several big puja committees also raised their rates, but they are more cautious on budgets than last year,” he said.
This year, analysts and industry insiders estimated that the “overall puja market would be at Rs 46,000–50,000 crore, marking a turnaround with corporate houses returning to offer sponsorships, malls posting healthy footfalls and discretionary spending on consumer goods rising sharply”.
In 2024, Bengal’s Puja economy was estimated at around Rs 42,000 crore, contracting by 20–30 per cent due to inflation, muted corporate spending and weak sentiment.
The rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar hospital and widespread agitations cast a shadow on the festive spirit last year, and businesses were adversely impacted.
Notably, a 2019 British Council report had pegged the Puja-linked creative industries in Bengal at Rs 32,377 crore.
This year, however, organised retailers reported a dou
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r cent year-on-year—a four to five-fold jump in growth compared with last year’s muted start.
Premium smartphones and TVs led the surge, with loyalty members driving record demand, it said.
But beneath the buoyant figures lies a sharp divide—while organised retail, automobiles and corporate advertising thrived, hawkers and small traders said the season was subdued due to a shift in spending towards e-commerce platforms.
The National Hawkers Federation said the season was “very bad,” similar to the downturn during the Covid crisis.
“Online businesses have eaten 40 per cent of hawkers’ income. Even small shopkeepers have suffered badly. A single day of rain in Kolkata ahead of Durga puja made it worse,” federation president Saktiman Ghosh told PTI.
The city faced unprecedented rain in a single day, which caused a fall in revenue for small businesses.
Despite the overall rise in consumer demand, hawkers and small traders said most of the spending shifted to malls and e-commerce plat
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