Hindustan Times
HT Mint Luxury Conference is back!
There have been many luxury brands coming into India and setting up shop in the country. Even with high tariffs and lack of infrastructure, several luxury houses have sensed the potential that India holds in terms of their business prospects and then declared that India is the next big destination for them.
Sensing this boom, Hindustan Times started its luxury conference in 2006 in Mumbai where the leaders in the industry from a round the world had come to share their views on the market. Subsequently, in 2007 and 2008, the conference was brought to Delhi. Owing to the recession in Europe and the US and the slowing down of economy in India, the conference was put on hold for the next couple of years and now, with the progress of the economy around the world, the next Hindustan Times Mint Luxury Conference will be held at the Taj Mahal Hotel & Towers in Mumbai on March 25 and 26 this year.
There are many facets to India’s luxury market. The growing number of millionaires in the country and the burgeoning of middle class income, especially that of the younger lot, have resulted in the increase in the consumption high end brands in the country. This is the reason why luxury brands saw the potential for growing their business in the country. At the same time, India also poses several adversities in term of their retail here. One of the most prominent among them is the high duty structures and their inability to have 100 per cent FDI in the country.
Brand leaders say that they have faced similar problems while starting their business in China a few years ago. But, subsequently, the Chinese government eased all their laws and regulations and now some of these high-end brands have as many as 30 or more stores around China. The conversion of Shanghai and its Bund area into an ultra posh high street also helped them establish their business there. I hear now that Brazil is going the same way and it’s moving fast towards this direction. If everything goes well, Brazil will overtake India and take its position as the next big destination for luxury brands.
I often hear the problems faced by some of the world’s best brands while trying to establish their business in India. Recently, I heard that a ultra premium brand while trying to set up its office in Connaught Place in Delhi have had to wait for more than a year as the government officials put a hold on to it as the brand refused to pay bribe to them. The same brand is facing problems in opening its first store in Mumbai and the authorities there have out a spanner in the wheel… probably expecting bribes.
What need to be done? How to deal with those who discourage brands from establishing there business here? What needs to be done in terms of duties and tariffs? The Hindustan Times Mint Luxury Conference, with its theme “What Triggers Luxury?” hopes to address these issues.
After all, I have seen that once a luxury brand opens its store, the entire area becomes nice and clean and more number of stores, more cleanliness there as these brands maintain the area of their business well. Add to that the rest including revenues that come to the exchequer… we need to act, else Brazil or some other country will overtake us and we will remain where we are…
Be there at the Hindustan Times Mint Luxury Conference… we have some of the best names in the luxury business coming to share their views on India’s market…don’t miss it!
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Pappu_FAIL_ho_Gaya1 Reply:
April 14th, 2013 at 6:33 pm
i THINK YOU ARE A NAUKER paid by the Pappu relief Fund sponsored by Congress loot money. Please go clean diapers of your failed Pappu rather than give these puerile comments being paid at 25 paisa a comment by Congress
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