India

Large Durga Puja Committees Thrive While Small Celebrations Struggle Amid Rising Commercial Activity

By Anjali Thakur

West Bengal’s Durga Puja season has seen a rise of 13,000 pujas this year compared with last year, yet the economic benefits are unevenly distributed. Large organisers, shopping malls, organised retailers and e‑commerce platforms report strong business, while smaller community committees, traditional markets and hawkers face challenges.

Major puja committees have sold out outdoor advertising slots, with rates up at least 20% as LED displays become more common. Smaller committees, however, experience weaker advertiser demand, leaving about 30% of their advertising inventory vacant. Kajol Sarkar, an office‑bearer of the Forum for Durgotsab, which represents more than 550 community Durga Puja committees in Kolkata, Howrah and suburbs, said advertisers concentrate spending on selected routes rather than spreading it across locations. Park Street, Camac Street and Theatre Road are key advertising hubs, partly because they fall within Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s Bhabanipur constituency.

Organised retail saw stronger activity during the festive period. Siddharth Pansari, managing director of Primarc Projects Private Limited, said the company’s mall registered about 17% growth in footfall during the 45‑day pre‑Puja period compared with last year. Footfall rose from nearly five lakh in September to around seven lakh in October, and festive business was expected to reach roughly ₹38 crore during the month. Department store chains such as Style Bazaar, Bazaar Kolkata, Fashion Bazaar and Zudio attracted heavy crowds across Kolkata and its surrounding areas, reflecting demand among middle‑ and mass‑market consumers.

The Confederation of West Bengal Trade Associations (CWBTA) raised concerns over the volume of online festive sales and the deep discounts offered by e‑commerce platforms, arguing that the price gap between online and offline sellers is hurting traditional retailers. E‑commerce companies recorded about ₹24,000 crore in sales during the first two days of the festive season. CWBTA president Sushil Poddar said the issue is not the expansion of online shopping itself, but the pricing disparity between digital platforms and physical stores.

Asit Kumar Saha, a representative of the Hawkers Joint Action Committee, said online shopping, department stores and malls have affected small hawkers in traditional markets such as MG Road, Burrabazar, Hatibagan, Shyambazar, Jadavpur and, to some extent, Gariahat. He added that the threat of eviction by Kolkata Municipal Corporation engineers after the Puja has added to their anxiety, with customers bargaining more, thinning margins or even forcing sales at a loss.

Saibal Kar, an economist and professor at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, said Kolkata’s Puja shopping economy has traditionally served two broad consumer groups: relatively affluent shoppers who patronise malls and major brands, and a larger segment that purchases garments from markets such as Rashbehari, Burrabazar and Hatibagan. He noted that the government’s push for big capital appears to sideline small traders and hawkers, and that large businesses dominate advertising around Puja celebrations. Kar also highlighted the importance of the MSME sector, which employs around 600 million people, and urged the government to protect small businesses that are less prone to international shocks.