InfoAnda - India: potential for luxury, but not yet

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

New password-stealing virus targets Facebook | | 18 March 2010
Sudan vote opponents spread confusion: poll chief | | 11 December 2010
Dutch court orders Apple to pay Samsung damages over patent | | 20 June 2012

Militias and the displaced | 20 June 2011

">Forum Views () ">Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : India: potential for luxury, but not yet

Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Singapore Asia Pacific World Search Search: India: potential for luxury, but not yet AFP - 1 hour 39 minutes ago NEW DELHI (AFP) - - Purveyors of luxury goods are waking up from their dream of conquering India as the last great frontier for their high-end and high-priced wares. With the world's economy in recession, luxury retailers are rethinking plans that saw them rushing into what they hoped would be the next China -- a market of more than a billion people with middle-class aspirations and their eye on the next fashion status symbol. A combination of global downturn, domestic red tape, regulatory hurdles and a thriving trade in smuggled goods means it will be a long time yet before India becomes big business for Europe's luxury retailers, experts said. At a recent conference in the Indian capital, industry executives conceded India has potential -- but is a long way from realising it. "Before it becomes a very big business for us -- I am already a grandfather -- I think I will be a grand, grand, grand grandfather," Christian Blanckaert, executive vice-president of French giant Hermes International. Delegates to the "Sustainable Luxury" conference at New Delhi's exclusive Imperial Hotel represented the broadest range of the international luxury goods industry, which has been struggling to find a strategy for dealing with the global economic downturn. Having fattened up during the boom years, they turned their attention to emerging markets such as China and India, hoping that economic growth would create new markets where money was no object. As European and American markets have withered, the roll-on effects of the recession are now being felt in the countries that retailers such as Hermes, Gucci and Chanel had hoped would be the source of future profits. "It's a bit like watching a cocktail party on the Titanic," said one US fashion executive at the conference, as delegates air-kissed, sipped Champagne and nibbled canapes. Worldwide luxury goods sales are expected to fall this year by 10-15 percent, according to US-based research consultancy Bain and Co. India accounts for just 0.4 percent of the estimated 233.9 billion dollars in global luxury sales, Bain says. The big luxury retailers began their foray into India in 2002, targeting the newly affluent beneficiaries of economic reforms. So far more than 50 premium and luxury brands, including Jimmy Choo, Gucci, Christian Dior, Piaget, Moschino, Todd's, Chanel and others, have set up shop in India, opening boutiques in five-star hotels and shopping malls. But window-shoppers have vastly outnumbered buyers, even throughout the economic boom that has just come to an end, said B.K. Murjani, who developed Indias first luxury mall in Mumbai. International brands came to India with "euphoric expectations" but had not done due diligence, said Murjani, whose Murjani Group is the biggest in India's premium sector. Their estimates had been wildly incorrect, he said, with sales averaging 500 dollars per square foot of floorspace, compared with 3,000 to 6,000 dollars a square foot internationally. He told the conference the average luxury retail outlet in India last year lost 375 dollars per square foot, before overheads. Along with delegates from abroad, Murjani agreed India has great potential as a luxury goods market, but he added: "The bottom line is that Indian luxury business as it is currently structured is not a commercially viable model." Since the mid-1980s the number of people in India living on less than a dollar a day has fallen to 54 percent of the population from 94 percent, according to global consultancy McKinsey. Those who can afford luxury goods are a wafer-thin minority of the 1.1-billion population -- though still estimated at around 1.2 million Indian households, accounting for some two trillion rupees (40 billion dollars) in spending, McKinsey said. Wealthy Indian shoppers have long preferred to buy their designer handbags, sunglasses, clothing and shoes abroad, avoiding Indian import duties of up to 45 percent which are another impediment to growth. "Until duty rates drop, brand owners must lower their prices," Murjani said, adding: "The Indian consumer is very value conscious." While consumer caution is likely to hit the profits of retailers in India from top end to bottom for the next couple of years, Italy's Giorgio Armani is aiming to use the time to build brand awareness. John Hooks, Armani's deputy managing director, said his company has joined Indian property heavyweight DLF to open two outlets in New Delhi "just to establish our brand". Telling the conference he had changed the title of his presentation to "Trying to do Business in India" from "Doing Business in India," he said: "It's very, very early days" for luxury retailers in this market. Yet for Hermes -- which used Indian motifs in its recent Fantaisies Indiennes collection and has a boutique in New Delhi -- India is a "love affair" the company is happy to pursue, said Blanckaert. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article 0 users recommend Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Related Articles: China's Economy Japan PM orders US$100 bln economic stimulusAFP - 1 hour 28 minutes ago Europe futures point to higher openingReuters - 1 hour 37 minutes ago India: potential for luxury, but not yetAFP - 1 hour 42 minutes ago China migrants' children endure parent-less lifeAFP - 2 hours 14 minutes ago Related Articles: Business Yen extends losses, dollar climbs above 101 yenReuters - 56 minutes ago Hong Kong court approves PCCW buyout bidAFP - 52 minutes ago Japan to spend over 2 pct of GDP on new stimulusAP - 1 hour 2 minutes ago Dentsu: to book $406 mln loss on shareholdings in Q4Reuters - 1 hour 7 minutes ago MONEY MARKETS-Aussie bill futures price in rate cutReuters - 1 hour 10 minutes ago Enlarge Photo India: potential for luxury, but not yet Related Photos Slideshow Full Photo Coverage: Business & Economy Related Full Coverage China Economy china economy All Full Coverage Most Popular – Business Viewed Journalists get shock with 'sexy' White House call Explosives chemical found in US baby formula Guantanamo 'soooo beautiful!' Miss Universe says US ready to force out bankers: Geithner Arctic may be ice-free in 30 years: study View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

Other News on Monday, 6 April 2009
Obama in Turkey for first visit to Muslim country | International |
Macedonian ruling party candidate leads vote | International |
Farrah Fawcett in L.A. hospital: reports | Entertainment |
Fast & Furious speeds to No. 1 worldwide | Entertainment |
At least 16 dead, many injured in Italy quake | International |
Merkel makes surprise visit to Afghanistan
U.N. divided on North Korea launch | International |
Baghdad bomb kills 5 in busy street
U.S. spies on China from Kyrgyz base: Russian TV | International |
Canada says Afghan law on women won't be enforced
Controversial Afghani Shi'a law on hold for review | International |
Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy reduced to a purr
Obama in Turkey for first visit to Muslim country
US ready to force out bankers: Geithner
New boss vows 'reinvented' GM even in bankruptcy
Dubai police accuse Chechnya deputy PM in killing
Putin to defend handling of Russian crisis | International |
Bundchen, Brady wed -- this time in Costa Rica
Jewish city turns 100 and parties through crisis
Madonna leaves Malawi after failed adoption bid
Zimbabwe government sets plan to end isolation | International |
Baghdad bomb kills 5, wounds 15 in busy street | International |
South Africa's Zuma to learn fate in graft case | International |
Rich China, poor China conundrum as clout grows | International |
Media covers U.S. war dead's return after 18-year ban
Cuba not afraid to talk with US: Fidel Castro
US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,266
IBM, Sun merger talks in trouble: report
US warns of potential attack on Nigeria missions
Sony PS3 outsells Nintendo Wii in March in Japan | Technology |
Russian TV says U.S. spied on China from Kyrgyz base
At least 17 dead as strong quake strikes Italy
Obama, Sarkozy clash over Turkey EU bid
French, Canadian aid workers kidnapped in Darfur
U.S. warns of possible attack on embassies in Nigeria
Trial opens in Hong Kong celebrity sex scandal
U.N. divided on North Korea launch
German baby powder taken off shelves in China
Japan to extend sanctions against NKorea
Pakistanis mourn victims of mosque bombing
Carrie Underwood wins country music's top award | Entertainment |
UK charity head held over Bangladesh 'bomb factory'
Sri Lanka says war's end near, 453 rebels killed
Bon Jovi documentary to rock Tribeca Film Festival | Entertainment |
A decade on, East Timor remembers Liquica massacre
Tiger rebel death toll rises to 480
Film world jumping for Easter Bunny | Entertainment |
Seoul shares end at 6-month closing high
U.S. Senator proposes waiting period for ticket resellers | Entertainment |
McCain urges China to back NKorea sanctions
India: potential for luxury, but not yet
S.Korea won up 2.4 pct on stocks, N.Korea ignored
China migrants' children endure parent-less life
Pakistani cenbank buys 54.30 bln rupees of T-bills
US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary
China's markets closed Monday for public holiday
Bon Jovi documentary to rock Tribeca Film Festival
China, NKorea trade boom despite rocket tensions
Film world jumping for Easter Bunny
S.Korean banks willing to up lending-c.bank survey
Art museums hope technology will sustain interest
Taiwan dollar at 3-month high on stocks, won
Michigan museum has $41.9 M restoration
SKorean stock market shrugs off rocket launch
Carrie Underwood wins ACM entertainer of the year
Reports: Bunchen, Brady wed again Costa Rica
Jazz up SAfrica's musical industry: Hugh Masekela
Asian star braves death threat to plug movie
Jazz musician Bud Shank dies in Tucson at 82
Series of bombings in Baghdad Shiite areas kill 34
South Africa prosecutors drop Zuma graft charges | International |
Death toll from Baghdad car bombings rises to 32
Six car bombs kill 34 across Baghdad | International |
Iran calls on U.S. to scrap nuclear arms
U.S. judge allows deportation of accused Nazi guard | International |
Global economic crisis 'far from over': Putin
Polar summit to debate Arctic riches, environment
Spate of Baghdad car bombings kills 18
Pakistan grapples with slide in security; envoy due | International |
Blair urges Netanyahu not to abandon peace talks | International |
New NATO chief pledges conciliation with Muslims | International |
New T-Mobile gadgets to sport Google's Android: report | Technology |
US wants 'clear', 'strong' UN response to NKorea
Sun shares plummet after IBM talks collapse | Technology |
Parents visit US journalist jailed in Iran
Egypt police detain Muslim Brotherhood blogger | Technology |
Obama in Turkey to boost ties with 'critical ally'
Taiwan researchers say invent cheap quake sensing tool | Technology |
Google should defend trademark suit: appeals court | Technology |
Sony PS3 outsells Nintendo Wii in March in Japan
Italy quake toll rises to 40: report
Sony PS3 outsells Nintendo Wii in March in Japan
Japan eyes $100 bln economic stimulus
Farrah Fawcett in L.A. hospital: reports | Entertainment |
Indonesia military plane crash kills 24
Garuda Indonesia pilot jailed over deadly crash
Game creator pitching makeover to save show | Entertainment |
Pakistan grapples with slide in security
Death for Indonesian who killed, mutilated lover
Bomb blast kills six in northeast India
Khmer Rouge defendant says US helped rise to power
Sri Lanka eyes final battle against Tigers
China to provide universal health care by 2020
Fury in Seoul, Tokyo over NKorea launch
Continental launches Chinese R&D centre
Pakistan targets 75 bln rupees in T-bill auction
Hong Kong courts OK, then delay, $2B deal for PCCW
Regis and Kelly take a tour of New Orleans
Yen dives to five-month lows against dollar, euro
Game news: Gameloft rules mobile market
Nokia re-enters key S.Korean market, shares up
"Game" creator pitching makeover to save show
Sri Lanka expects economic growth to drop
Trial opens in HK celebrity sex photo scandal
Japan to spend more than $99 bln in new stimulus
Japan's Nikkei index up for fourth day
Report: Cell phone users in NKorea reach 20,000
Indonesian military plane crashes; 24 killed
Indonesian military plane crashes; at least 17 die
Indonesian pilot sentenced to 2 years for crash
Indonesian military plane crashes with 24 on board
Indonesian military plane crashes into hangar
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01