Brisk business worth Rs 70,000 crore was done in the past seven days during Durga Puja across various sectors. In 2022, business worth Rs 50,000 crore was achieved.

The credit of making Durga Puja international goes to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had introduced the Red Road carnival in 2016. Durga Puja has received Intangible Cultural Heritage tag from the UNESCO. ASSOCHEM in a report had stated that business during Durga Puja could have reached Rs 1,00,000 crore had Covid not been there due to which community puja could not be held in 2020 and 2021. Thousands of foreigners had come to Kolkata during Durga puja along with UNESCO officials.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while inaugurating Durga Pujas virtually had requested the club organisers to ensure smooth passage for the foreigners who would visit their pandals. Since Miss Banerjee came to power in 2011, Durga Puja has reached a different height. In 2023 for the first time the coloured lights of Chandannagore designed by Sarkar Electricals were used at London Sarad Utsav ( LSU).

Miss Banerjee has proposed to set up a light hub covering Chandannagore and Bhadreshwar. Pandal decoration had reached a new height this year. In Manicktala, the puja committee marked the centenary of Abol Tabbol, Bengali nonsense rhymes penned by Sukumar, The pandal in black and white was based on the different characters from Abol Tabol. The pandal at Chetla Agrani, Suruchi Sangha, Kashi Bose Lane, Tala Pratye, Behala Notun Dal where two artists from Netherlands had designed the pandal, and those at Nalin Sarkar Street and Chakraberia Road south deserve special mention. Sovabazar Sangrami Club had used e-waste to decorate the pandal.

The pandal art has reached such height that some of the pandals which had been installed during Durga Puja in Kolkata would travel to Chandannagore during Jagatdhatri pujja and Kali puja. Some of the idols will be preserved at the museum at Rabbindra Sarobar. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee often said that “ Religions are personal but festivals are for all”.

This year participation of people belonging to the minority communities was remarkable. To boost Durga puja in the districts, carnivals will be held in the districts also. Nirmalya Chaudhuri, director of Chocolate Hotels Private Limited said “ Bengal is coming up in tourism in a big way and time has come to go in for aggressive campaign to woo international tourists and their counterparts in other states in India.”