Bride Shristi Mittal (in pink); (right) Lakshmi Mittal with his wife Usha and younger brother Pramod at an event in the UK

London, Dec. 15: Indian businessmen across the diaspora were this morning playing a game — trying to work out the true cost of the latest big fat desi wedding.

The December 5-7 marriage had taken place between Shristi Mittal, 26, daughter of London-based businessman Pramod Mittal, and Gulraj Behl, an investment banker 10 years older than the bride who is said to have worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Pramod is the younger brother of 63-year-old steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who set the benchmark for Indian weddings in 2004 by spending an estimated £30 million (around Rs 250 crore according to 2004 exchange rates) when his daughter Vanisha married Amit Bhatia in France.

The Sunday Times reported today that Pramod had outdone his elder brother, in whose shadow he has had to live, by spending £50 million (around Rs 500 crore) on Shristi’s wedding.

But hard-headed Indian businessmen told The Telegraph: “Maximum he spent $1.5 million (Rs 9 crore).”

Another businessman agreed with the $1.5-million figure and dismissed the £50-million cost as a “wild exaggeration”.

The latter, having organised a wedding recently in London for his daughter, said: “Let’s assume he has to look after 300 couples and hires 300 hotel rooms at a cost of 300 euros (around Rs 25,000) a night. That works out to 90,000 euros (around Rs 76 lakh) or 270,000 euros (Rs 2.3 crore) for three nights. Add $500,000 (around Rs 3 crore) a night for two wedding functions. That gives you a total of under $1.5 million. The paper has been gullible in using the £50-million figure which has been given to them.”

One business analyst pointed out: “Bandying a figure of £50 million is a double-edged sword. It might boost Pramod Mittal but at the same time encourage the tax authorities to scrutinise his affairs.”

Two reasons were offered why the wedding was held in Barcelona.

One was: “People like to go somewhere new.”

Another was: “Tax reason. A non-domicile settled in London does not have to pay tax on money earned outside the UK. Therefore, he can legitimately spend money earned outside the UK on which he does not have to pay tax.”

Lakshmi, Pramod and a third brother, Vinod, are the sons of Mohan Lal Mittal, who started the steel business in India and set up shop originally in Calcutta before moving part of the enterprise to Indonesia.

Lakshmi has become a known figure in Britain but Pramod does not enjoy the same kind of profile. Shristi, who was educated at Columbia University in New York, works for her father.

By all accounts, even an expenditure of $1.5 million would have allowed Pramod to entertain his guests royally, and he appears to have done so.

The Sunday Times said the groom “arrived at the main ceremony on horseback”, not realising this is nothing out of the ordinary.

But it did say: “An army of 200 butlers and secretaries was reportedly flown into Spain from India and Thailand, while the 500 guests lucky enough to be invited were made to sign confidentiality agreements.”

This newspaper was today unable to find anyone who had heard of such an agreement, which would anyway have offended quite a few of the guests. Pramod’s financial worth is unknown but unlike Lakshmi, he is not regarded as an A-lister.

Some Left-wing officials in Barcelona apparently objected to the city council’s decision to cooperate with the wedding planners. For example, Jordi Marti, a leader of the Socialist Party, accused the council of “being fascinated by the smell of money”.

But city mayor Xavier Trias, who was one of the guests, said it had been crucial to attract “economic activity” during a recession and boost Barcelona.