Five Indian brands in globe's 100 largest luxury goods companies
Despite emerging from a turbulent period for India’s wealthier segments, the Indian market for luxury brands appears to be doing particularly well. In a new report published by global professional services firm Deloitte, five Indian names have appeared among the world’s 100 top-selling luxury brands for last year.
While navigating the ups and downs of the global economy, India has been a steady mention amongst the world’s fastest growing markets in recent years. Not only is the strength of the economy projected to drive regional growth in the near future, but analysts such as Big Four accounting and advisory firm PwC place India as the 2nd largest global economy by 2050, behind only China.
A look on the inside, however, reveals that this economic growth is driven primarily by the wealthier segments of society from the upper-middle class onwards. At the lower end of this spectrum, the country is still experiencing rapid urbanisation and the expansion of the middle class, thereby boosting overall prosperity levels.
The top end of the spectrum tells a similar story, with the number of billionaires in the country having increased from 16 to 100 in the last year alone. The overall levels of disposable income in India are rising, and have begun to manifest themselves. A report from the Boston Consulting Group last year predicted that consumer spending in India would increase to $4 trillion by 2025 at the current rate of growth.
Now, a global report from Big Four professional services firm Deloitte has shed light on where exactly the wealthier segments are spending their money. Specifically, Deloitte’s report examines the top 100 luxury brands in the world with respect to consolidated sales over the last year.
Globally, Italy dominated the list in terms of presence – home to 24 of the top 100 brands – while France was the most prominent in terms of sales, as the nine brands from the country on the list comprised 25% of the global sales. All 100 cumulatively sold $217 billion worth of products, representing an average of $2.2 billion.
Five of these 100 brands are of Indian origin, four of which are jewellery companies. Titan – an Indian luxury watch brand – is the odd one out on the list, while the jewellery segment is represented by Kalyan Jewellers, PC Jewellers, Joyalukkas India, and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri.
The Indian scenario is consistent with the global market, in that jewellers dominate the list, behind only luxury clothing and footwear brands. The fairly strong presence of Indian brands comes despite the demonetisation drive in 2016, which discontinued the highest currency denominations in India, thereby exerting a significant squeeze on the liquidity of all segments, particularly the wealthy.
