‘Luxury purchasing power in India shot up after covid’

livemint.com:

₹933 crore. One brand—Rado, owned by The Swatch Group—is looking to ride that wave. The company this week signed on brand ambassador Katrina Kaif to attract more women luxury buyers.

Its revenue and presence are growing in India, with about 30 brand boutiques. While some European markets are heavily impacted by geopolitical issues, the company’s global CEO, Adrian Bosshard, said India is as important a market as the US is for it today. Edited excerpts from an interview: Two years ago, you said that India was a No.3 priority market for you globally.

Does that still hold true? Have you achieved what you had set out to do during the pandemic? I must admit that even the most enthusiastic sales expectations at that time have been achieved and crossed in India. Despite the challenge of inflation, and partially being hit after the covid-19 pandemic, we were able to deliver to and attract newer Indian customers. We see a strong increase in local consumption despite all the economic challenges around the globe.

We also see Indians are travelling again and again and buying around the globe across tourist destinations. India is a huge country with a lot of potential customers and also with a lot of new watch enthusiasts. But India is for many luxury companies, still a two or three store market.

Your comment? Despite the fact that globally, in the luxury industry, India is still far behind China, US or also several countries in Europe, it’s growing and for us and it undoubtedly is one of the top three markets. China and UAE are leading and the US and India are neck and neck for us. In what way has the Indian consumer changed since the pandemic? We sell watches between $1,000-6,000, or about ₹85,000- ₹5.1 lakh here.