Function halls lose heavily as weddings become simple

Mysuru: Call it boon or bane, Covid-19 has paved the way for simple weddings, putting an end to lavish spending. It may have come as a blessing in disguise for families with limited means, but it has served a heavy blow to the owners of function halls/choultries/convention centers in Mysuru who claim to have suffered a loss of at least Rs 100 crores due to the pandemic in the past eight months ever since the first coronavirus case was reported in March.

Earlier a family used to spend anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50 lakh for a wedding, but now the cost has come down by 75 percent, according to C Narayangowda, committee member of Mysuru Choultry/wedding halls association and owner of Sapthapadi Convention Center.

Speaking to The Hans India, Mr Narayangowda informed that, due to the restrictions imposed by the government on number of people participating in wedding functions, over 50 percent of the people are performing simple weddings in hotels and temples. Just about 35 percent are hiring hotels, while the remaining 15 percent content themselves with celebrating wedding functions at temples. Earlier hardly two percent people fell in this categoy, he said.

Government gets 18 percent as tax from wedding halls and hotels. But temple weddings won't fetch any tax to the State. Making hay while sun shines, temples are coming up with packages including food for wedding ceremonies, Mr Narayangowda explained.

"In Mysuru there are over 200 wedding halls with rents ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 5 lakh. Keeping in view the Covid crisis, we are giving 50 percent discount on rent to those who had booked halls before the outbreak of coronavirus. In spite of this, 50 percent of them cancelled bookings and shifted to cheaper venues. As a result, we had to refund the advance. We are offering the same 50 percent discount to those who have booked halls for weddings scheduled in February and March too," Mr Narayangowda said.

"Since the government has permitted participation of 200 guests in view of the virus threat, people are preferring smaller function halls to perform weddings. Initially, the government restricted the number of guests at weddings to 50 and subsequently raised it to 100 and now 200. Wedding hall owners who have invested crores of money, have suffered losses in excess of Rs 100 crore in the past eight months.

The government should permit participation of 50 percent of the capacity of halls. If the government can permit 50 percent of employees of a factory to attend to work, why can't it extend the same relief to wedding halls? The government should also consider waiving building tax for this year," Mr Narayangowda demanded.