“India Will Not Become The Next China. India Will Become The Next India”

We believe that five years from now, close to three per cent of the Indian population, i.e. 40 million people should be ready, hereand-now consumers of luxury goods and services.

- ​​​​​​​Darshan Mehta

About two times that number, approximately 80 million people would be knocking on the doors of the luxury market or would already be sporadic consumers of luxury.

More foreign brands

More foreign brands are sure to come in. We have new brand teams, not just our partners, coming in to our offices every month, including a high-end jewellry brand. They have all tasted the success of luxury consumption in China. 25 to 33 per cent of the brands’ global consumption comes from China. So much so that they often imagine “what if, we had not entered China over the last decade or two.”

The question now is, which market will herald the next big wave of luxury consumption? Last year was the tipping point for the global luxury market. The epicenter of global luxury consumption moved from the West to the East. More than 50 per cent of global luxury consumption is from Asia, and not from the Western world. The focus of gravity has clearly moved.

Japan was the first Asian geography to open its doors to luxury consumption in Asia. But now it is a very mature and saturated market. They don’t have the young millennial consumer. Russia has many political and currency overtones. It’s not a market big brands can bank on.

For them, a politically stable, bankable market, with the world’s largest English speaking population, with a tradition of luxury, is India. Let’s not forget that until two centuries ago, India contributed to 23 per cent of the global GDP. We were, by far, the wealthiest nation in the world. The economy, however, slipped. But the big players in the luxury segment do see India reclaiming its position in the order of riches.