This from India Knowledge at Wharton – India’s Luxury Market: Unlocking Consumers’ Taste for the Finer Things

India accounts for only 1% to 2% of the global luxury market, behind countries such as Brazil and Poland. And India is behind China on luxury goods consumption by about 15 years.

The reason why consumption of luxury products lags is

….exorbitant duties stemming from a government mindset that luxuries are low priority, the lack of adequate range and service levels, and a culture that discourages people from flaunting their wealth are some of the factors impeding the growth of the industry.

obviously weddings do not count as ‘flaunting wealth’ – but ….

Other factors include service

Service is also a problem. Anoop Prakash, managing director of Harley-Davidson India, noted that many luxury brands are distributed through local dealers in India. Luxury retailers prefer this to coming to the country as a subsidiary of the parent company. The result, however, is consumers don’t always receive the same high-quality brand experience they get elsewhere. Often the salespeople in these venues are not trained to serve the luxury customer. “Frankly, there’s an unfortunate tendency to consider retail jobs and jobs in automotive dealerships as low-level jobs, as opposed to respected jobs where they are delivering very valuable services and experiences,” Prakash said.

I also wonder if it is because of other reasons. Primarily the way life and life style is portrayed on Indian television. The role models are very traditional. And, the traditional concept of luxury and the westernised concept of luxury are two very different things. A number of people with high disposable income only watch and read in the vernacular.

Most of luxury brands are associated with English language TV and magazines – which are niche in themselves.

Maybe the brand owners need to look at the market anew. this market has layers and layers of complexity. And the starting point of understanding India is to understand that if people speak fluent English and have knowledge of luxury brands, they probably work for someone – who neither speaks fluent English, nor is fully aware of these brands – but has the disposable income at their disposal. The second rung metros may be a better bet for their wares, than being present in Mumbai and Delhi.