Festive cheer eludes Durga Puja with corp sponsorship below pre-Covid level

According to Forum for Durgotsab, an umbrella outfit representing 400 pujas and four other clubs, compared to 2020, sponsorship is up 30-40% and compared to 2019, it's down by 20-25%

The revellers are back on the street and traffic has come to a crawl. Pubs are overflowing with patrons and the queues before pandals are getting long. But it’s a mixed bag for the business around Durga Puja, the biggest festival of West Bengal.

The season, according to most puja committees of Kolkata, is faring much better than last year, but it’s still a way off from the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Retail and food & beverages – a large part of the business around the festival - are however, seeing some recovery.

A research commissioned by the British Council