The true cost of 'Big Fat': Why India needs a luxury-wedding tax

When celebration becomes spectacle, society — and the country — pays dearly

- SUNDEEP BHUTORIA

For generations, Indian weddings were intimate rituals woven with meaning — a sacred union, a gathering of families, a celebration of blessings and community.

But the visionary English poet's warning feels painfully current in a country where the wedding industry, worth an estimated $200 billion, is increasingly driven by competitive display. What once unfolded in ancestral courtyards has expanded into multi-day extravaganzas: destination resorts, celebrity performances, imported decor, curated feasts, and photogenic rituals engineered for social media.

Yes, these weddings may burnish India’s soft power and global glamour. But beneath the shimmer lies a cost we rarely acknowledge — an ecological footprint that swells with every unused plate of food, a civic burden shouldered quietly by public systems run by taxpayer’s money, and a widening social gap fuelled by excess.

It is time to confront the imbalance. Let me stick my neck out and say — it is time to tax the ‘big fat’ Indian wedding. Not to stifle joy or tradition, but to recognise that when private indulgence strains public resources, a well-designed ‘luxury-wedding tax’ becomes less a penalty and more a policy instrument. One that aligns private indulgence with public responsibility.

THE HIDDEN BILL OF EXCESS

A recent research paper surveyed food wastage at Indian weddings and functions, revealing that 20 to 40 per cent of the food prepared often goes to waste. I have personally witnessed this at various occasions. This is staggering in a country where 74 per cent of Indians cannot afford a nutritious diet. In elite weddings, the food wastage number climbs to 700-800 kg, often disposed of without segregation or redistribution. Every plate tossed aside is a reminder that abundance and hunger coexist in tragic proximity.