India luxury sales to cross Rs 62,497 cr next year, says study

India's nascent luxury market is set to accelerate

next year, crossing the 10 billion dollars (Rs 62,497 crores) mark, boosted by a new breed of wealthy “closet” consumers whose spending power is increasing, a report released by market researchers IMRB and the Confederation of Indian Industry states.

Luxury sales will climb by a 17 percent in 2014 to top the 10 billion dollars (62,497 crores) mark, up from estimated 14 percent growth in 2013, the study added. India's consumer base has been enlarged by “a substantial new class of wealthy” who have joined the ranks of the traditionally rich, said the report. India's sharp economic slowdown has impacted the luxury market where global labels from Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Cartier to Dior have been jostling to make their mark.

But by mid-2014, the luxury market is expected to gather steam as the economy picks up and as new luxury consumers reach into their pockets. The report identified this new brand of customer as “closet consumers” who it said were specially demanding as they have an “inner conflict” between parental middle-class values and “conspicuous consumption”.

The Indian market still represents a fraction of the 318-billion dollars (around Rs 19,89,726 crores) global market but the country with its increasingly affluent population of 1.2 billion has “tremendous potential”, the report said.