Namaste London! Indian lifestyle brands eye UK's capital to explore global reach

To woo the burgeoning Indian diaspora in the UK, London seems to have become the destination for a slew of homegrown luxury brands – that want to make a global presence. The latest entrant on the bandwagon is Forest Essentials – a luxury Ayurveda company from India. Many other brands have already forayed into the high streets of the global financial capital – mostly over the last five or six years. Indian lifestyle brands that want to make their global presence felt are making London their first stop. As per data shared by the British High Commission in India with Business Today, there are already hundreds of Indian companies in the UK and more are on their way.

Forest Essentials opened their store at London’s Covent Garden in December. Covent Garden is considered among prime retail real estate of London. In the recent past, prior to the pandemic, home-grown luxury leather goods brands, Nappa Dori had set up a store in the Covent Garden area in 2019.  

British High Commission sources told Business Today, “Indian brands which have already opened in the UK or are about to open in near future include Nalli Sarees, Frontier Raas, Nappa Dori, Pernia’s Pop-up, Hamleys, Jaquar Bath fittings, Aranyani in retail sector; MTR, Goila Butter Chicken, Chowringhee, Speciality Restaurants Limited in Food and Drinks Sector, Bipha as Shop in Shop model.”

According to the British High Commission, the presence of Indian companies in the UK is significant and on the rise. “There are 900 Indian companies in the UK employing nearly 1,41,005 people. The strength of the UK-India economic partnership is considerable. Total trade in goods and services between the UK and India was £29.6 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2022, an increase of 37.1 per cent or £8 billion from the four quarters to the end of Q2 2021,” British High Commission sources informed.

They further added, “India is the UK’s 2nd largest source of investment in terms of the number of projects, with 107 new projects and creating 8,664 new jobs in 2021-22. UK-India investment relationship supports over half a million jobs across both economies.”      

Gautam Sinha, Founder, Nappa Dori told Business Today: “We opened our first international flagship store in 2019 in Covent Garden London, one of the prime real estates in the world. With a signature luxury leather goods collection of handbags and travel luggage, Nappa Dori is known for a strong minimal design sensibility with a global palette, so the expansion to the UK, especially London being one of the five key fashion capitals of the world, was an inevitable move. The store is located steps away from London’s famous West End theatre and is constantly visited by famous actors and celebrities who work around there. We also stock our products in Fortnum & Maison, the Conman Shop, and Selfridges. This has given us phenomenal visibility which is important for Indian brands. I feel strong design and craftsmanship from India have been a foundation stone for a lot of international brands and they leverage this immensely, but Indian brands haven’t been able to penetrate the global market for some reason which has always baffled me.”  

Samrath Bedi, Executive Director, Forest Essentials told Business Today: "UK is one of our largest markets with consumers already having a significant knowledge of Ayurveda and a wider acceptance into its philosophy and what it stands for. While a majority of our customers in the U.K. are from the Indian diaspora, over the years, we have seen a growing number of consumers from outside this diaspora, who have not only tried our products but have also gone ahead to become loyal consumers with a growing affinity towards our offerings. "

When spending trends are becoming conservative in the UK because of current global economic trends, Bedi feels the beauty industry may not be heavily impacted. “While beauty may not be recession-proof, consumers rely on the beauty industry for a multitude of needs every day. This makes the industry not as prone to recession when you compare it to fashion or luxury goods. High demand and innovation have put the beauty sector at the heart of the U.K. economy. Difficult times lie ahead globally, and we would be remiss to ignore the challenges that come with the economic upheaval but we as a brand, have persevered through similar situations in India and are confident to do the same in the UK" Bedi said.  

Apart from brands, UK universities too seem to have become a big draw this year for Indian students. According to November statistics, there were 127,731 student visa grants made to Indian nationals in the year ending September 2022, an increase of 93,470 (+273%) compared to the year ending September 2019 (34,261).  

A British High Commission spokesperson said: “The UK continues to offer international students an academic experience with world-leading universities and an innovative approach to teaching. Indian students make up one of the UK’s largest groups of international students. Education is one of the mainstays of the unique living bridge connecting the UK and India and we are pleased to see that over 1,27,700 student visas were issued to Indian nationals in the year ending September 2022 – a 273 per cent increase since 2019.”