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Mumbai’s first luxury shopping centre taps India’s ‘cultural understanding’ of affluence
- Jio World Plaza, built by the daughter of India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is a one-stop luxury shopping centre in the country’s wealthiest city
- As China’s economic growth slows, the world’s luxury brands are setting their sights on the Indian economy
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At the opening of Mumbai’s first luxury mall, almost all of Bollywood’s A-list stars turned out for the red carpet event in haute couture outfits, with photographers snapping away, reminiscent of the annual Met Gala in New York.
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Some 66 global luxury brands – such as Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Versace, Tiffany & Co – have set up shop in Mumbai’s Jio World Plaza, a one-stop luxury shopping centre in India’s richest city that is also home to 169 billionaires and 59,000 millionaires.
With China’s economic growth slowing, the world’s luxury brands have set their sights on India, which is expected to grow at around 7 per cent annually and is the world’s fifth-largest economy.
A wealth report by Knight Frank last year ranked India third in terms of its billionaire population, after the United States and China.
The wealthy in India is growing beyond old business families and corporate tycoons, encompassing start-up founders, investors and high-ranking corporate professionals.
“There is a new group that has emerged over the past seven to eight years. These are people who are wealthy for the first time, and have high disposable incomes to buy high-end housing, luxury cars and jewellery,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director of retail consultancy Technopak.
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The luxury market in India has also matured enough to start seeing demand from smaller cities.
“India is far behind China in most things but in luxury, the gap is smaller. I’d say India is only about 10 years behind China,” said Singhal.
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