Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get. — Samuel Johnson
India was unshackled in 1991, giving rise to a new middle class. A burgeoning middle class, booming services, skyrocketing stock markets, and continuing reforms ensured a steady rise in the number of millionaires in India.
A recent report said India recorded the highest growth in the number of high-networth individuals (HNI) last year.
According to another report, in 2017 the number of millionaires grew 20 per cent to 263,000, compared to 11 per cent globally, while India’s rank in terms of total number of millionaires stood at 11.
Today, India boasts of the third largest number of billionaires in the world, behind the US and China, or 119, according to an estimate. Another report puts the number at 131, and 170 for billionaires of Indian origin.
With free enterprise and a well-entrenched democracy, we, in India, have now come to celebrate wealth and wealth creation — instead of heaping scorn on wealth and wealth generators, as was the norm in the socialistic era.
This, then, spawns, a whole new ecosystem of luxury — of goods and services. When free and fair competition is the norm, aspirations rise, and fine life, then, is a just reward.
We, at BW Businessworld, celebrate this spirit of fine life in our annual luxury issue, and find that the new-age HNIs would not settle for anything less than the finest and the classiest.
It’s this new breed of HNIs that would be driving the Indian luxury market. In this issue, we look at the innovations in the luxury market in the last one year. The domains that we look at include luxury housing, hospitality, travel, exclusive clubs, wines, gadgets, watches, auto, among others. We also look at how and where new-age HNIs invest.
There are also a number of top columnists writing in the issue. This promises to be a collector’s issue which I am sure you will enjoy.
This issue also has a second cover story that looks at how Escorts, led by Nikhil Nanda, is being re-engineered to chart a new growth trajectory. The company is working to become the second largest tractor manufacturer in the country, while consolidating in other verticals.
In governance and economy, the past week has been eventful. The Narendra Modi government has continued to push banking sector reforms with the merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, and the new entity will be operational from the beginning of the next financial year.
Elsewhere, the petro prices have been on the rise even as the rupee hovers around its record lows. Will the government have to play a political price for this in an election year? We will have to wait and watch.
In the meantime, do enjoy this special issue.
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Happy reading!