The luxury firms and Reliance Industries are looking to capitalize on robust economic growth and a sharp increase in the number of millionaires. As a result, Gucci, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton are among the names that have signed leases for stores at Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s new Mumbai mall.
The Jio World Plaza is housed in Reliance’s $1 billion commercial and cultural hub in Mumbai’s financial sector, which an industry source predicted will open this year.
The lease documents, which were provided by real estate analytics company CRE Matrix, revealed that Burberry Group (BRBY.L), as well as several brands owned by LVMH (LVMH.PA), Kering (PRTP.PA), and Richemont (CFR.S), have agreed to rent shops in the mall and as well as share between 4% and 12% of their monthly net revenue with Reliance. Reliance has not yet disclosed information about the tenants.
Jewellers Cartier and Bulgari, clothing designers Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Gucci, watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen, and luxury luggage manufacturer Rimowa are among the companies mentioned. Rimowa will launch its first location in India.
Requests for response from Reliance, Burberry, LVMH, Kering, and Richemont went unanswered.
“Luxury brands have always struggled to find quality retail spaces in India, and many were forced to open their first outlets in luxury hotels,” said Anuj Kejriwal, CEO of India’s Anarock Retail. These brands are seeking meaningful presence at the moment.
The largest of Louis Vuitton’s four stores in India will be in Jio World Plaza, measuring roughly 700 square metres (7,500 square feet). It will be Dior’s third store in the nation and the second for Cartier.
If at least four of ten premium companies, including Gucci, Cartier, Bulgari, and Tiffany, do not open their own stores in the mall within six months, some lease agreements, like that of Dior, have a condition that entitles Dior to a 25% rent reduction.
India, which has the largest population in the world with 1.4 billion people, has a per capita income of about $2,300 but is also home to more than 800,000 millionaires who are shelling out on luxurious residences and pricey SUVs.
India will have 1.4 million millionaires by 2026, 77% more than in 2021, according to real estate experts Knight Frank, as the country’s economy continues to grow.
The expansion in India, where Euromonitor projects the personal luxury market to increase by over 12% annually to about $5 billion in 2022–2026, contrasts with the weakening economy in China, where demand for designer items has long been a key driver of sales growth for luxury companies.
According to Euromonitor estimates, China’s personal luxury market will increase by an average of 11.5% over the next four years, reaching $107 billion.
