Mahakumbh 2025: The Effects on UP Economy

We’ve all been hearing about the holy festival, MahaKumbh 2025! Every day has a new story to tell about the happenings of this 45-day religious event that takes over all of India!

With an inflow of 40 Crore people are expected to travel to Uttar Pradesh, to witness this magnificent festival.

But do you want to know the story behind this?

Well, during the Samudra Manthan (churning of the milky ocean), Gods and Demons fought over the divine Nectar of Immortality (called Amrit). To protect this Amrit, Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini and carried it in a pot (Kumbh), and the drops of this nectar fell in four places- Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik, establishing them as sacred places to hold Maha Kumbh Mela, every 12 years!

These Kumbh Melas attract millions of people every 12 years. But the Mahakumbh 2025 mela is expected to gather 40-45 crore people, who will bathe in the Triveni Sangam, a holy site in Prayagraj. This Maha Kumbh Mela is occuring after 144 years.

According to officials, in terms of visitors, the Mela is expected to surpass major global events in the world. For instance, the Rio Carnival is attended by 70 Lakh people, Haj is attended by more than 25 lakh, which is far less compared to the significant 40 Crore visitors at the Mahakumbh!

The immense religious beliefs in the event and its rising popularity are contributing to the boost in tourism, local businesses, and employment of the entire Indian economy. The UP economy is expected to drive ₹2 Lakh Crore in economic growth, owing to this festival.

This article explores in detail the immense impact of this grand affair.

A Look at the Past Maha-kumbh events:

The last Mahakumbh Mela took place in 2013 in Allahabad, and contributed to ₹12,000 Crores, while the 2019 Kumbh Mela held in Prayagraj generated ₹1.2 Lakh Crores. The economic activities associated with the Mahakumbh Mela in 2019, generated employment for around 6 lakh workers across different sectors by drawing 24 crore visitors.

Prayagraj in 2025 is planned to be a grander gathering than its prequel in 2013. With an enormous budget of ₹5010 crore, supported by a ₹2010 crore grant from the central government, the city is set to witness a bigger, better, and far more modernized affair. This budget is much higher than the ₹1214 crore allocated for the 2013 Kumbh, highlighting the world-class infrastructure being promised by the government.

The Mahakumbh 2025 is set to reach new heights in terms of economic impact too, which is expected to be around ₹2 lakh crore to ₹2.5 lakh crore, an astonishing jump from 1.2 Lakh Crore in 2019! The Kumbh isn’t just about the cultural pilgrimage, it is also about the potentially staggering prosperity that it is bringing to small vendors, businesses, and bigger brands. Their earnings are going to be significant contributors to the state’s as well as the nation’s economic development.

Infrastructure development

The UP government has allocated the majority of the budget to improve its roads, bridges, sanitation, and water supply. The Mahakumbh 2025 grounds, which is the designated area for the festival, have expanded from 16 square kilometers in 2013 to a massive 40 square kilometers in 2025. To improve sanitation, 1.5 lakh new toilets have been made in 2025 as compared to 33,903 in 2013. In fact, changing rooms have been increased fourfold to 10,000 units!

With an increased focus on transportation as well, more than 7000 buses, including 200 air-conditioned ones, and more than 200 charter flights along with 3000 special trains have been placed to ensure smooth transportation and seamless connectivity. 2025 Mela will also observe an upgrade in technology, with age-old traditions meeting powerful technology — with drones, AI-powered security cameras, and face recognition systems.

Hospitality business

The travel and hospitality business itself is expected to generate around 2800 Crores in revenue, during the Mahakumbh, 2025, becoming the top-benefitted sector based on estimations. Hotels, Dharamshalas, and homestays are likely to experience a 300% increase in bookings. From luxury hotels to simple homestays, businesses are increasingly introducing new hospitality services to cater to this wide opportunity.

For example, the ISKCON temple’s kitchen, partnering with the Adani Group, is giving free meals to over one lakh people daily at the Mahakumbh, highlighting a special alliance between spiritual and corporate entities.

Talking about unique and innovative services in hospitality, one such offering comes from ‘The Ultimate Travelling Camp’ (TUTC), which presents visitors with an opportunity to stay at 44 super luxury tents at its Sangam Nivas Prayagraj campsite. These tent stays are priced at exorbitantly high prices, such as 1 Lakh per night per tent for two guests! Also, hotels and accommodations witness a significant surge in occupancy along with a high demand in dining too, with long queues at restaurants and cafes.

Employment Opportunities

The 2013 Kumbh event successfully created more than 1 Lakh direct jobs and approximately the same number of indirect jobs too. This number rose to approximately 6 lakh jobs by 2019, and is now expected to touch 8 lakh jobs in 2025, spanning sectors like travel, tourism, transport, retail, food vendors, event management services, etc.

Contribution to GDP

The Mahakumbh mela this year is expected to boost nominal and real GDP by over 1%. Suppose each visitor spends an average of ₹5000, and the expected number of visitors is 40 crore, that means approximately ₹2 lakh crore will be generated in trade. And, the spend per person could rise to ₹10,000 per person, which could take this GDP contributor figure to ₹4 lakh crore.

Let’s see the key differences across the past three Kumbh events :

	MahaKumbh 2025	Ardh Kumbh 2019	Kumbh 2013
No.of visitors (in Crores)	40	24	8
Budget Allocation (in ₹ Crores)	6400	3700	1300
Transaction value (in ₹ Crores)	2-2.5 Lakh	1.2 Lakh	12,000
% of GDP	~1%	~0.63%	~0.12%

The inflow of millions of domestic and international pilgrims over 45 days is aimed to boost demand, increase production, create jobs, and enhance financial flows for the economic development of the country and its businesses.

So, the 2025 Maha-kumbh event is expected to be a money spinner!

Ripple effects: Varanasi, Ayodhya and other nearby spiritual cities

The strong cultural and economic boost is not only limited to Prayagraj, and is evidently spread to nearby spiritual cities like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura, and Vindhyavasani Dham as well.

For instance, Varanasi which is 120 km away from Prayagraj, inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in 2021, thereby boosting its tourism. With Prayagrah’s massive inflow of tourists, pilgrims are motivated to visit Varanasi too, visible in the 30% increase in its hotel bookings around this time.

Additionally, the 2023 inaugurated holy ‘Ram Mandir’ of Ayodhya also witnessed a massive surge, forcing management to ask devotees to postpone their visits for a hassle-free experience.

Similarly, popular pilgrimage destinations like Mathura, Govardhan, and Vindhyavasani Dham also get a great spiritual tourism boost. As can be seen from OYO’s announcement of adding a total of 500 hotels combined in all of the above religious spots, to capture the demand.

Conclusion

Other than being the biggest and most religious event in India, that gets global attention too, the Mahakumbh 2025 Mela is expected to bring immense growth in infrastructure, and economic health and foster substantial regional tourism.

The scale of economic growth in Mahakumbh is unparalleled, with economic growth visible both in the state and national economies. Throwing way back to 1882 (144 years ago), the Mahakumbh Mela at the time, generated revenue of ₹49,840 at an organized cost of ₹20,228. Going as per historical trends, the Mahakumbh 2025 is expected to yield approximately ₹25,000 crores worth of revenue for the UP economy.

DISCLAIMER: This article is not meant to be giving financial advice. Please seek a registered financial advisor for any investments.