Demand Uptick In Wedding Season Raises Raymond Lifestyle's Hopes Of Strong H2

Leading players in the apparels industry expect the ongoing wedding season to boost business in the second half of the current financial year.

This wedding season, consumers are expected to spend Rs 6 lakh crore over the next five months, according to Sunil Kataria, chief executive officer and managing director of Raymond Lifestyle Ltd. Following a muted first half, industry players are hopeful of things looking up.

Talking to NDTV Profit, Kataria said the second half of the financial year has over 40 days of weddings, where 48 lakh weddings are set to take place over the next five months starting November 12 till mid-May.

“While this (fewer number of weddings) along with the discretionary pressures impacted the first half, the second half is going to see a lot of backlog of weddings,” he said.

The top executive noted that some signs of the large spending expected to happen throughout the wedding season are already visible.

“The Indian big fat wedding is expected to see spending of over Rs 6 lakh crore across multiple sectors. One thing we are expecting is that as an industry, there is a backlog of weddings, which is going to pan out,” Kataria noted.

The apparel business segment, where Raymond Lifestyle is a leading player, is also seeing a segmental shift from casual wear to ceremonial and formal wear.

“The brand completely linked to weddings is Ethnix by Raymond, which is the Indian men's ethnic wear brand. We have around 135 stores right now. Again, one shift in the segment, which is a very good indicator we are seeing across, is that groom-led ensembles have started picking up,” he said.

Kataria is confident of business picking up in the second half of the current financial year thanks to two major factors.

“One is, this time, the wedding season is staggered, and it's a prolonged period. So I think that, in a way, is good for the overall wedding industry. Secondly, while weddings are more urban-led, there are weddings which are going to happen in rural areas because the first half didn't see rural weddings. There is a clear rural recovery, which is obvious to everybody. I think that is a second positive trigger,” the Raymond Lifestyle MD added.

Shares of Raymond Lifestyle Ltd. rallied as much as 2.7% to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,074 apiece on the NSE in morning trade on Tuesday, Nov. 19. However, the stock pared some early gains to trade at Rs 2,024.95 apiece, up 0.3%, on the NSE at 1:30 p.m., compared to a 1.23% jump in the benchmark Nifty.