Luxury experiences to turbocharge India luxury market, says Euromonitor

New Delhi and Mumbai: Experiential luxury, consisting primarily of fine dining and luxury vacations, will lead growth in India’s luxury goods and services market over the next five years, says market researcher Euromonitor International. The segment is expected to compound annually at a scorching 77.8% growth rate between 2026 and 2030. If this forecast holds, experiential luxury revenues will nearly match sales expected in luxury cars by the turn of this decade. Such cars, priced at more than ₹50 lakh a piece, make for the largest segment, about 43%, in India’s luxury market. The market for all luxury goods and services is expected to close this year at ₹104,300 crore (14.5% year-on-year growth). It is predicted to grow to R149,640 crore by 2030 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% for the period. The global market for such goods and services is expected to expand by 2.8% in the same years. This growth is aided by India’s growing base of high-net-worth individuals, rapid urbanization and an ambitious middle class that trades into premium perfumes, watches and fashion, an expert said. Ashish Mishra, CEO of brand consultancy Interbrand, pointed to a rising trend: that of “premiumisation” with a steady movement of consumers switching up. “Traditional luxury buyers remain unaffected by macroeconomic volatility, and that segment is only getting stronger,” he said, explaining the interest in India among companies in the luxury business. The Euromonitor projections for the top two segments in Indian luxury are: The luxury car segment is expected to close 2025 with ₹44,540 crore sales (18% YoY growth) and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 17.2% between 2026 and 2030. in 2025 (21.4% YoY growth) with the forecast CAGR of 77.8% in the next five years Spotlight India India is increasingly on luxury companies’ radar as more consumers join the upper middle class and wealthy ranks. Mint reported earlier this month that beauty giant The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), which sells brands such as MAC and Jo Malone, is ramping up investments in India. About 30% of global consumers across the world entering the middle class are from India, noted Stéphane de La Faverie, global president and CEO of ELC. “India is the largest contributor of new middle class consumers globally, and our role is to tap into the lower, middle and upper middle class segments depending on the brands we use.” The personal luxury goods segment – ​​comprising designer clothing, footwear, fine jewelery and watches – will also remain large and dynamic until 2030, Euromonitor said. But value sales data and projected growth rates were not immediately available. Paris-based luxury department store chain Galeries Lafayette recently announced that it will open its first store in India in Mumbai in November, launched with partner Aditya Birla Group of Companies. Luxury in India is on the cusp of major change, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group said at the inauguration of the store. “With one of the fastest growing affluent populations in the world and a new generation of globally exposed consumers, the appetite for high-end experiences has never been greater.” According to world bank UBS’s Global Wealth Report 2025, India added 39,000 dollar millionaires in 2024, bringing the total to 917,000. Retail chain Shoppers Stop reported that categories such as watches, beauty, fragrances and sunglasses continued to grow strongly. The company, which sells perfumes from Prada and YSL, said its beauty sales rose 22% year-on-year to ₹331 crore in the September quarter. “Watches have grown significantly…about 13% like-for-like. Categories like beauty, sunglasses, fragrances are all growing,” said Kavindra Mishra, MD & CEO, Shoppers Stop Ltd. In June, Mint also reported that Swiss watch exports to India rose over 10% year-on-year in the first five months of 2025. The value of such imports was nearly ₹2,600 crore in 2024. Ayaan Kartik contributed to this story