Event managers in Koramangala record growth upto 112 per cent

Gone are the days when every family member was involved in organising a wedding or a party. Parties now are outsourced in Koramangala. Thanks to the several event management companies in the area, residents now have all the help they needed for their parties, and they don't mind the heavy price tag either. So much so, that now Koramangala is now the new hub for event management companies. "Earlier the hub was Indiranagar, but now it's Koramangala," says Prawal Narayan, founder and general manager of Koramangala-based event management company, Event-u-all. Despite the growing competition most of the companies have recorded an annual growth between 30 percent to a whopping 112 percent. The growth story In the past few years, more companies have opened shop and thus, the competition has gone up. Besides this, the economic slowdown also raises its ugly head time and again. But, none of these challenges has hit the industry, thus owing to an exponential increase in demand. The growth of Snap Events substantiates the above fact. "Our business is growing. And we often have to limit the number of parties we organise to give special attention and superior quality. On an average we do at least 15 parties every month, business has grown to 112 percent from last year," says Ashwin Suresh, managing director, Snap events, who has been organising events since 2004. Similar is the growth trajectory for Event-u-all, "In spite of tight competition and a slowdown in corporate space we are seeing 40-50 percent year-on-year business growth," said Narayan. Ilyas Akthar, CEO of Koramangala-based Idreams Events is happy with the business growth. "We have seen an average growth of 30 percent every year. The numbers may seem low. But going by the fact that the event industry was hit pretty bad during recession, the numbers are fair." Akhtar also attributes the growth to an increasing number of youngsters in Koramangala and spending power of the residents. "I think with the growing youth population in Koramangala we see an increase in the clients' budgets." he says. According to the report by Ernst & Young and Event & Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), the organised portion of the Indian event management industry has grown at over 20 percent during the last two years and has been estimated around Rs 2,800 crore in 2011-12. The industry is expected to reach Rs 4,375 crore in 2013-14 driven by weddings, sports and higher spends on below-the-line promotional events. The report also states that there is a large unorganised events and activation sector as well, which could be as large or even larger than the organised portion of the industry. Demand for Personal Events The event industry has two markets to cash on, personal events and corporate events. According to industry players, there is a slowdown in the corporate events' market, but personal events seem to be slow-down proof. For Event-u-all, the personal events' segment in Koramangala has grown by 20 percent, whereas, the corporate event segment has seen a downfall by 50 percent. Event Mechanic's director Rajiv Stephen reiterates the same: "Corporate companies are now cost-cutting as far as events are concerned - they have cut costs by as much as 30 percent." Ashwin echoes the same trend. "Spending patterns in personal parties are increasing, but corporate budgets are getting tighter," says Ashwin. He also adds that number of personal parties or events has shot up in last two years. "From last year, the number of personal parties has increased by 45 percent." According to various event managers, the Bangalore market has become more 'glamorous' or in other words, 'Bollywoodish' with regard to weddings. Functions like 'sangeet' that were earlier unheard off in South India are now being organised by the event management companies. A client in Koramangala is ready to pay Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for adding dash of glamour to wedding parties. "Koramangala has the right clientele for event management companies. Lot of high net worth individuals live in Koramangala, who want to have lavish and glamorous parties," explains Narayan. The last wedding that his company organised was for Rs 50 lakhs. Theme Parties Over the years the event management companies have seen a considerable rise in demand of theme parties in Koramangala. "Apart from weddings and sangeet there is a huge demand for theme parties," says Akthar. For, Event-u-all, queries for theme parties have grown by 70 percent from last year. And otherwise, the number of theme parties has gone up by 40 percent. These parties are usually organised for children. And parents are ready to shell out an amount of Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 depending on the theme and the size of the party. "Themes like Mickey Mouse, Disney Princess, Chota Bheem, Little Krishna are some of the most popular themes in Koramangala," says Ashwin. www.dg3.dgevent.in