By IANS
New Delhi : With “The Mystique of Luxury” as its theme, the third Mint-Hindustan Times Luxury Conference kicks off here Friday to deliberate on a broad swathe of issues spanning fashion, hospitality, interiors, yachts, jets, gourmet cuisine and intellectual property rights.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath will inaugurate the two-day event that has attracted an enviable list of speakers and 400 international delegates.
Among them are Mark Lee of Gucci, Andrea Perrone of Brioni, Vittorio Missoni of Missoni, Armando Branchini of Altagamma (association of Italian luxury goods), and Andrea Illy of Illy Café. World-renowned New York-based French corporate lawyer Alain Coblence will look at the issues pertaining to intellectual property rights (IPR) in the luxury goods sector.
Global consulting firm A.T. Kearney recently put India at the top of a list of emerging markets for global retailers in its 2007 Global Retail Development Index. While other markets, especially in the developed world, are getting saturated, India is turning increasingly attractive for retailers, it said.
India may even overtake Germany as the world’s fifth-biggest consumer market by 2025, the report maintained.
This is not surprising, considering that economic reforms spread over a decade and half, coupled with sustained high growth rates, has led to the emergence of the high net worth individuals (HNIs) in India who are spurring the demand for luxury goods in a big way.
The 2007 Asia Pacific Wealth Report, released by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini says that India has recorded the world’s second fastest growth in the number of HNIs at a staggering 20.5 percent.
With the report estimating India’s population of dollar millionaires at about 100,000, it said growth rate was more than twice that of the US.
Experts say that many factors have contributed to the growth in demand for luxury goods, and it is now becoming increasingly apparent that for international luxury brands, India is no longer a mere testing ground but a lucrative market.
Estimates suggest that India has more consumers for luxury goods than the adult population of several countries.
No wonder then, more than 200 international luxury brands are making inroads into India and those who are here are planning to expand their businesses.
From a long-term perspective, experts say, India’s consumerist culture is clearly an important draw. Middle class mindsets that money should not be wasted are gradually melting away. Indians are now becoming acquisitive and brand conscious. The display of wealth is no longer a dirty word.
Thus, an average Indian today can potentially spend double of what he or she could spend in 1985. In the next 20 years, he or she will be able to spend four times of what they do now.
So, what is driving consumerism in India today?
Some key factors are high salaries of employees in the corporate sector, especially in IT companies; the increasing number of working women; the rise of a new breed of self-employed entrepreneurs; and a large young working population with a median age of 24 years that is more willing to spend rather than save.
This apart, there is growing prosperity in more than 100 small towns and cities across India. This is typified by emerging malls, surging automobile sales, water parks, rise in credit card sales and investments in mutual funds.
These emerging urban centres represent the future of India’s growth story, experts say.
The changing habits of the metropolitan youth are also an important trend to watch out for. Today’s modern Indian youth lives in a world where videos are being watched on mobiles and MP3 players. It started with television, but now broadband and new technologies have started as catalysts for changes in consumer behaviour.
The Hindustan Times, one of India’s leading English broadsheet dailies, has been a pioneer in spotting emerging trends in the country and was the first in the country to hold a conference focusing on luxury two years ago in Mumbai.