Indian art prices are at an all-time high. Is there stagnation or growth ahead?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The IIMA-Aura Art Indian Art Index (IAIAI) has hit an all time high of 4,300 as investors take a fancy to artworks after a huge bull run in equity markets.
The index, launched in November 2022 by the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad in collaboration with Mumbai-based Aura Art, seeks to measure the demand for Indian artworks and adjusts for factors such as a single piece fetching a huge sum, the medium (water- or oil-based paints), and the size of the painting. Also read: Investing in art? Check out this IIM Ahmedabad index Asked why this was happening now, Rishiraj Sethi, director, Aura Art Development Pvt Ltd, said, “Art prices always lag equity markets by a few months or years.
Equity typically goes up on expected earnings and wealth generated from this feeds demand for art." Professor Prashant Das of IIMA, however, said he didn’t have a view on why art prices were rising as he was only involved in creating and maintaining the index. Whatever the reason, there’s no denying that investor interest in India’s art market is growing again after years of stagnation.
After hitting an all-time high in 2006 (based on historical data), the index stagnated for years and took about a decade to get back to that level. Also read: Is the Indian art market on an upward curve? Sethi from Aura Art said this was because several art funds were launched around the same time in 2006, and collectively poured more than ₹250 crore into the still-nascent market, worth about ₹1,000 crore at a time, thus inflating prices.
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