‘India markets similar to those in France’
NEW DELHI : Albeit small, India has long been seen as a promising market for luxury goods. But the market has been a challenge to navigate for many companies looking to enter.
Bénédicte Epinay, CEO of Comité Colbert, France’s official luxury association representing about 95 of the world’s top luxury brands, said bureaucracy, high customs duties, and a lack of luxury infrastructure are major obstacles that are coming in the way of further development of the sector. In conversation with Mint on the sidelines of the recently concluded luxury summit by the The Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI) in the city, Epinay said India’s rich cultural heritage, growing economy, and increasing smartphone penetration are key factors that can drive the luxury market.
“New horizontal regulations like BIS—a certification mandatory for all footwear manufacturers, for example, which makes them use the ISI mark on their footwear—would induce heavy costs to virtuous players like our companies, without any positive effects for Indian consumers. It would also be detrimental to the development of new luxury shops," she said.
While India has been a promising market for French luxury brands for at least 20 years, the direction in which the industry could be headed is a worry if these challenges are not addressed, she said. “There are a lot of obstacles in the way of the luxury market here, including the bureaucracy.
For this the committee is also having a dialogue with the Ministry of Commerce in India," she said. However, she noted that the launch of two new luxury malls in the bigger metros in the last month alone—including Mumbai’s Jio World Plaza and the Phoenix Mall of Asia in Bengaluru—have addressed India’s lack of luxury
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