– Demand for festival-related services saw a 53% jump across Maharashtra
– Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik, are Top-3 Maharashtra cities witnessing maximum searches
– Demand for pandits on hire & sweet shops contributed to almost 72% of the searches
Mumbai, August 9: With all Covid restrictions removed in Maharashtra for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, demand for festival-related services saw a 53% (YOY) jump with Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik witnessing maximum searches for pandits on hire, reports the latest Just Dial Consumer Report.
The last two years saw muted celebrations due to severe restrictions imposed by the Covid -19 lockdown. But now the withdrawal of all restrictions has come as a big boost for all service providers for festivals and the gig economy at large.
Besides pandits on hire, a host of other festival-related services like mandap decorators, idol makers, flower dealers, and sweet shops also saw a sharp rise in searches on India’s No.1 local search engine for this year’s 10-day celebration across the state.
Maximum demand was from across nine major cities of Maharashtra. Mumbai topped the demand along with Pune, followed by Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Sangli, Solapur, Amravati, and Nanded. Demand for pandits soared and it was the most searched on the platform contributing almost 37% of the searches for festival-related services. Demand for pandits on hire and sweet shops contributed to almost 72% of the searches for festival services.
Commenting on the trends, Mr. Prasun Kumar, CMO, Just Dial, said: “It is encouraging to see an upswing in consumer sentiment and the boom in business for numerous service providers due to the withdrawal of COVID restrictions due to Ganesh Chaturthi. Our data suggest that maximum searches are happening for ‘pandits on hire’ and it is a testament to Just Dial’s deep reach and penetration in services that were largely searched offline. Even demand for sweet shops saw a 71% YOY jump indicating that Just Dial is now the go-to online platform for all consumers for all their needs.”
Across the state, demand (YOY) for pandits rose by 50%, pandal decorators by 38%, flower dealers by 31%, and idol dealers by 17% for the most celebrated festival in Maharashtra compared to last year’s celebrations.
For pandal decorators, maximum demand was from the three cities of Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik with Mumbai alone contributing to 50% of the demand. Mumbai also saw a 50% jump in online searches for sweet shops and drove almost 61% of the searches happening in the states followed by Pune and Nagpur.
Demand for flower dealers in Mumbai outstripped that from all other cities, followed by high demand in Pune & Nagpur. For idol makers, Mumbai generated the highest demand (70%) in the state followed by Pune and Nagpur while puja item dealers saw rising demand in Pune followed by Nagpur and Kolhapur.
