Tradition Reimagined with Health, Speed, and Sustainability

From mithai to millets, from store queues to ten-minute deliveries-festive gifting has been rewired. E-commerce is set for a record season, instant networks are powering premium hampers, and food & grocery lead the charge as India swaps empty calories for thoughtful, label-clear indulgence. In festive 2025, food is still the language of love-only now it's fluent in health, speed, and sustainability.

- By Business Of Food Bureau

Festivals in India have always been more than occasions of ritual and prayer—they are economic engines that fuel commerce, employment, and innovation.

Beginning with Raksha Bandhan in August, flowing through Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja, gathering momentum during Dussehra and Diwali in October-November, and carrying into Christmas and New Year in December, the festive season is an extended calendar of celebrations that simultaneously reflects India's cultural diversity and its commercial vitality. For retailers, brands, and consumers alike, these months represent the high point of the economic year. Streets glow with lights, homes bustle with preparations, and increasingly, digital storefronts hum with traffic as consumers log in to shop for gifts, gadgets, apparel, and food. What was once a largely offline ritual of exchanging mithai (sweets), dry fruits, or apparel has now become a hybrid ecosystem of brick-and-mortar, e-commerce, and quick-commerce platforms.

Festivals as Economic Engines

The scale of festive consumption in India is staggering. In 2024, Diwali alone generated Rs.3.7 lakh crore in sales across categories ranging from jewellery and electronics to real estate, automobiles, apparel, and gifting. It is by far the single largest consumption peak in India's calendar, equivalent to the GDP of small countries compressed into just a few weeks of celebratory spending.

Other festivals too contribute meaningfully to the economy. Eid, driven by apparel, food, and gifting, contributes upwards of Rs. 1.2 lakh crore annually. The demand for gold and jewellery alone surges by 25-30% during Eid, while community gifting and celebratory feasts make it a period of high FMCG and foodservice activity.