Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address urged people to hold wedding celebrations on Indian soil, adding he is troubled by the trend of some "big families" conducting weddings abroad.

“The wedding season as well has commenced now. Some trade organisations estimate that there could be a business of around ₹5 lakh crore during this wedding season. While shopping for weddings, all of you should give importance to products made in India only,” the prime minister said.

“And yes, since the topic of marriage has come up, one thing has been troubling me off and on for a long time… and if I don't open up my heart's pain to my family members, who else do I do it with? Just ponder… these days a new milieu is being created by some families to go abroad and conduct weddings. Is this at all necessary?” he added.

Modi said that if people celebrate the festivities of marriages on Indian soil, then the country's money will remain in India. Stressing on ‘vocal for local’ pitch, the prime minister said that if weddings are organised in India, such systems helping them will develop. 

The prime minister urged the people to rely more on digital payments and UPI for digital transactions.

"UPI payments have increased in the past months and I urge you to only make UPI payments for the upcoming month and write to me about your experience." This is the second consecutive year when during Diwali, people have reduced their dependency on cash payments. This means that people are now relying more and more on digital payments," he added.

India witnessed 11 billion transactions worth ₹17.16 lakh crore via UPI in October, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said in a statement. The transaction amount of ₹17.16 lakh crore in October was due to festival season. In volume terms, the number of transactions touched a record 11.41 billion, up 8 per cent compared to 10.56 billion in September, as per the NPCI.

Culled from Hindustan Times