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30-01-2025
PRAYAGRAJ, INDIA: Arvind Agrawal has been running a business supplying stationery items across India for four decades in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state.
The city is currently hosting the Mahakumbh, often simply called the Kumbh, the world’s largest religious gathering of Hindus.
His mobile phone comes alive every few minutes with callers asking for the prices of key rings, calendars and diaries, all depicting an element of the Mahakumbh, a smart gimmick that has sent sales skyrocketing.
“I have hardly slept for more than four to five hours during the night over the past three months due to the massive demand for our items. The shop is kept open for longer than the normal schedule to dispatch the orders,” Agrawal tells Al Jazeera.
The extra demand is going to boost his annual revenues of about $570,000 to more than $660,000, he says.
Mahakumbh is held every 12 years in India in four sacred locations Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain on rotation depending upon the alignment of planets with the stars. Hindus believe that the festival is an opportunity for them to wash their sins away and seek spiritual liberation.
According to mythological beliefs, the festival is organized to celebrate the split of the elixir of immortality, the amrit which fell on different places in India while the gods were protecting it from demons.
The event that began on the bank of the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati Rivers in Prayagraj on January 13 will end on February 26 and is expected to draw millions of Hindu devotees and saints.
The festival is being held on 10,000 acres (4,046 hectares) where makeshift tents have been constructed to accommodate monks and devotees.
Massive business opportunity
Apart from its spiritual importance, Mahakumbh is also a massive business opportunity for the city’s entrepreneurs, the government says. More than 400 million people are likely to visit the city during the 45-day festival to take a bath in the Ganges and perform prayers.
Mahendra Goyal, the president of the Uttar Pradesh Chapter of the Confederation of All India Traders, says local businesses will earn close to $3bn. State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath estimates the festival is expected to generate revenue of more than $2 trillion for the country based on the calculation of 5,000 rupees ($58) being spent by each of the 400 million people expected to attend the event.
The state has hired social media influencers to promote the event and has also put up hoardings at airports around the country.
“Luxury cottages have been constructed, and the tour packages have been made for devotees coming to visit the Kumbh,” said Mukesh Kumar Meshram, principal secretary of the state Department of Tourism.
Some entrepreneurs are definitely benefitting from the burst of tourists. Ashish Mittal, 48, who sells paper cups and plates among other disposable items, told Al Jazeera that his business has witnessed massive growth over the past few days on the back of demand from the many community kitchens that have been set up to feed the devotees every day.
“Disposables are in huge demand. We usually do a turnover of 40 million rupees [$462,086] every financial year, but we are expecting additional sales of 15 million rupees [$173,282] due to the Mahakumbh,” Mittal told Al Jazeera.
Similarly, Vritti iMedia, a company that sells advertisement space on LED screens on moving vans, has snapped up multiple clients for the duration of the Mahakumbh. (AL JAZEERA)
