The Economics of Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the biggest Hindu festivals celebrated throughout India with great devotion and fervour. It is celebrated as the birthday of the elephant headed god, Lord Ganesha, every year between the months of August and September, for 11 days. This colourful festival has a variety of economic concepts attached to it, which will be discussed in this article.

The festival commences with the purchase of the idol of Lord Ganesha. The prices of idols range all the way from thousands of rupees to lakhs of rupees depending on the size and material. Eco friendly Ganesha’s, which are slowly turning into the norm, keeping in mind that we need to control pollution, are relatively cheaper than non-eco
They can be classified as fixed costs and variable costs. One of the major fixed costs is the rent which has to be paid for the factory or workshop hired for creating an idol, in the case of the bigger Ganesha’s. Other important fixed costs include the cost of capital like hiring of a number of boats during the process of immersion, or the setting up of the shamiana or the pandal. Amount of tax payable is also included in fixed cost. The Municipal Corporation collects taxes for allowing the people to erect shamiana’s or pandals. In addition they collect refundable deposits which are forfeited if these pandals are not removed after the festival.The cost of electricity is fixed upto a certain extent after which it becomes variable. A few other variable costs include the cost of water supply, fuel, fire crackers, music, security systems
So the bigger pandals all over the city never have a dearth in their monetary collection, even during times of recession. There is another side to this as well. During the 11 days, visitors, friends and family come in large numbers to visit private Ganesha’s at home as well as public Ganesha’s which are open to the general public. In both these situations, large amounts of offerings in cash as well as kind in the form of ornaments, gold, silver are made towards the elephant God which could be in turn donated to charitable organisations, health care centres, educational organisations and different kinds of charity. This creates economic welfare, which is measured in the form of real GDP of a country.

This festival creates a number of jobs for various people, whether directly or indirectly. Every single aspect of Ganesh Chaturthi generates employment for people like artisans, craftsmen, tailors, ornament makers, physical labourers, local pandits, sweet vendors, cooks who make the prasad, DJs etc. As the rate of employment increases so does the income in the hands of the people. This will result in a better standard of living since the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is the peak season, i.e, the start of the season of festivals in