India's the new launch pad

It’s a change so obvious that it’s barely noticeable. India is evolving into an increasingly crowded launch pad for global brands. Hublot recently launched its Big Bang collection of watches for the global market from India.

“If Hyundai can unveil its i10 here and make India its manufacturing hub and Nokia can launch its Indiaspecific handsets here, then the Indian market must have matured for global brands some time ago. I am not surprised,” says Charu Sachdev, CEO of Delhi-based TSG International Marketing, which brought Italian luxury brand Moschino to India in 2005.

Abhay Gupta, Executive Director, Blues Clothing Company, the franchisee for brands like Corneliani and Versace, points out that global brands have been flirting with India for a long time. “McDonalds’s Aloo Tikki Burger is an old example. Armani, including the sherwani in its latest collections, is a recent one. We are likely to see more Indianised products and also more global brands being launched here for the global market,” he says.

— Kapil Bajaj