Following the announcement that the iconic US-based luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co is forming a joint venture with India’s Reliance Brands Limited (RBL), a part of the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), to open a line of stores in India,

Shagun Sachdeva, Consumer Insights Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“According to GlobalData, India is the fastest growing luxury market in the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.2% during 2017 to 2022 to reach US$7bn in 2022. The projected healthy growth can be attributed to the positive economic outlook, growing younger upper-middle-class population coupled with growing brand-consciousness, and the increasing popularity of the online channel for luxury shopping.

“Tiffany & Co, famous for its diamond engagement rings and robin’s egg blue boxes, has been trying to foray into the Indian market since long time. By leveraging Reliance’s longstanding brand presence and product positioning, it will be able to expand globally and offset the subdued demand in the US and Europe.

“After the deployment of omni-channel model and the introduction of the iconic British toy retailer Hamleys in India earlier this year, the latest move by Reliance to open Tiffany stores in Delhi later this year and in Mumbai in 2020 through a joint venture is in line with its strategy to bring the best-in class products to the emerging Indian luxury market. It provides a unique opportunity for Reliance to bolster its consumer-focused units, retail and telecoms, to match the strength of its leading oil and gas business.”