Steady economic growth for the last 18 years has, expectedly, led to an unprecedented interest in the Indian consumption opportunity. This interest is global, and almost every significant international company has given India and the Indian market a look in recent times. While India has a long way to go on various per-capita indicators, it has done rather well in hogging the limelight when it comes to the very rich and the ultra-rich.

The number of Indian billionaires appearing on different lists such as Forbes’ has steadily increased, and when some of them end up building centi-million dollar skyscraping personal homes, gifting Airbuses and Ferrettis on birthdays, and have weddings that have functions spanning different continents and multiple countries, memories of the era of the maharajas, nawabs, and the nizams are naturally revoked. Stories of yesteryears when jewellers such as Cartier, luggage makers such as Louis Vuitton, and carmakers such as Rolls Royce had their most extravagant customers get into circulation again. In this background, it is no surprise that most international purveyors of luxury products have shown an incredible interest in the Indian luxury market, believing that in the not-so-distant future India could be the next Japan (or China) for many of them.

Indeed, the Indian economy could grow at a CAGR of about 8 per cent in the next decade making it a $2.5 trillion plus economy in present terms comparable to the UK or France of today. By 2020, India may well have a consuming class of over 800 million people and overall consumer spending topping $1.2 trillion, creating new multi-billion dollar industries and businesses. At that size of the economy, India will be among the top-5 markets for most major global corporations and will certainly still remain among the most promising ones for further growth. Annual spending on luxury goods and services could well be touching $80 billion by 2020 and the market could still be seeing growth rates of 8 per cent or more on that base.

Hence, while India will certainly not match the US, Japan or China in terms of its domestic market size for luxury goods and services for decades to come, its influence on global luxury business will steadily increase in the coming years. The reasons are many and mostly historical. Unlike Japan or China, India has a history and a tradition of luxury for millennia. It has an influence on textiles and handwork on them, on gems and their setting in jewellery, in food (including ingredients and spices), on natural skin and body care, on fragrances and cosmetics, and even furniture, furnishings, and objects d’art. For centuries, India’s nobility and the wealthy have been used to “commission” and patron works of luxury and extraordinary human skill.

In the 19th and early 20th century, India was one of the largest international markets for purveyors of almost all categories of luxury goods makers. With the rise of a new generation of maharajas and a more “democratic” — both in terms of their businesses as well as geographic — spread, it is very likely that luxury goods makers of the world will start studying the behavioural and aspirational aspects of the Indian customers, and then start developing goods and services that more specifically meet such facets. Hence, if the Indian wedding is one of the biggest triggers for spending then it is a matter of time before the major luxury business groups come out with products that are entirely targeted towards this segment rather than merely offering an abridged selection.

India may not be the next luxury capital of the world but its influence on luxury is likely to be among the most significant in the coming decade and for decades to come.