India matters, and all over the world, luxury brands are looking at India, says Bénédicte Epinay, CEO of Comité Colbert, the official luxury association of France that represents 93 luxury brands and behemoths such as LVMH, Chanel and Kering.
“Is India the next promising market? There are obstacles such as custom duties and the bureaucracy, but it probably is, because you have all the ingredients,” Epinay told ET. “You have the consumers, you have the appetite for refinement, you have the taste to understand luxury, and you have the passion to show off.”
She was here for the first Indo-French luxury symposium, or ‘IFCCI Luxury Symposium’, held in New Delhi on Wednesday.
“Post Covid, we are back to a new normal. Brands are seeing a growth of about 5-10% globally, which is why a lot of them are banking on India for their future growth prospects,” Epinay said.
From Gucci’s India specific launches at the Jio World Plaza mall and its signing up of Bollywood star Alia Bhatt as the first Indian global ambassador to the Gateway of India becoming a Dior runway this year, India is the place to be for global luxury brands and the next key frontier, industry insiders say.
“Sales of luxury brands have grown in double digits this year for us compared to last year,” said Pushpa Bector, senior executive director at DLF Retail. “We want more luxury brands to come to India. The good part is millennials have started shopping for luxury. It’s an evolved customer that we are seeing today and the time for luxury has come in this country,” she added.
But, challenges around regulations and custom duties remain.
The Indian market might not be the easiest to access, but India is definitely the place to be, Thierry Mathou, ambassador of France to India, said at the IFCCI Luxury Symposium.
“We are living in the moment of India. What is true for technology, defence, and many other sectors is also true for luxury. Brands such as Dior, LVMH, Hermes, Cartier and Chanel have launched initiatives with India as a focus,” he said.
“India is ready, as shown by the recent opening of the Jio mall in Mumbai. That was a remarkable milestone that the entire industry has acknowledged,” Mathou added.
Uzma Irfan, corporate communications director at Prestige Group, which operates UB City Mall in Bengaluru, said more brands are coming into the country. She also manages operations and leasing for the mall.
Bulgari launched the Mangalsutra for Indian consumers, while Jimmy Choo had a Diwali capsule collection promoted through a campaign featuring Bollywood actress Ananya Pandey this year.
Abhay Gupta, founder and CEO of Luxury Connect, a firm that offers services on strategy, advisory, sourcing and skilling to luxury brands, said the momentum for luxury consumption has picked up “dramatically”.
“Earlier, luxury brands did not trust Indians so much with their management skills,” he said. If we talk of a sector like auto, 15 years ago, the luxury auto brands were managed by expats. Today, they are all Indians… Audi is headed by Balbir Dhillon while Sharad Agarwal is the head of Lamborghini in India. Leena Nair was appointed as the global head of Chanel.”
Gupta also pointed to the Indian diaspora across the world. “Why are they (luxury brands) also picking Indian brand ambassadors? Because we have the largest population worldwide, the largest diaspora worldwide, and the largest Gen Z and millennials worldwide,” he said.
