With FDI being eased in single brand retailing and permission being granted to foreign companies to market through ecommerce platforms, the Government plans to encourage Indian luxury designers and brands enter into the global market, thus putting the nation on the international map.
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion secretary Amitabh Kant, a firm believer in Indian tradition and craftsmanship, stated, “We need to nurture that. I am a great believer in upmarket branding of products. I believe luxury is about differentiation,” at the CII-ET Dialogue on Luxury. The session was ‘Make in India for Overseas Luxury Market’. According to the CII-IMRB luxury report, released by Kant, non-metro cities such as Aurangabad, Ludhiana, Kochi and Bellary account for as much as 35 per cent of luxury brand sales. Kant added that India’s growth rate of 7.5% per annum could be bettered. “The challenge is to grow at rates of 9-10 per cent a year. I’m quite sure that the direction is right. We need to accelerate this pace and then India will see a huge shift in the next three to four decades,” he said.
Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee opined that Indian designers were gaining recognition and are able to create brands on their own. He referred to a huge collaboration between him and a US company, which was made possible by the Government’s initiative of “Make in India”. Actor Sonam Kapoor also plans to launch her own brand in 2016. “The only way to evolve is to be creative. One has to figure out ways to adapt to the lineage of India,” said designer Raghavendra Rathore, who was also present at the session.