The decision earlier this year by the government of India to allow foreign direct investment in retailing marks a significant watershed for those in the jewelry business who have eyed, from distant shores, the promise that this market holds. To date, it is mainly foreign-made luxury watch brands that have been able to penetrate the red tape and retail fragmentation that characterizes the current business climate. But even these successes are often limited to franchises whose scope is, in turn, often confined to luxury hotels in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. Investors now have a direct route to sell their wares, but what does India have to offer? What of the new consumer generation that is often lauded as being the key to fast-growing jewelry sales?
The recently published McKinsey Quarterly, focusing on India, provides some answers. It explains that there are “several Indias,” wh