‘Who really buys Indian art?'

We reproduce a report by Margherita Stancati in the Wall Street Journal on eve of the India Art Summit. Entitled ‘Who Buys Indian Art?, the writer starts off, stating: “In the next three days, people will be flowing into New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan exhibition center for, the largest trade fair of modern & contemporary Indian art.

Over 60,000 are expected to turn up. Many will be there just to look but others to buy.Last year, over half of the works on display sold out in three days – for a total of around 260-million rupees ($5.7 million). Galleries expect the trend to continue this year and have raised their bets. Although they are bringing in more expensive artworks, the price range remains wide.

This year, price tags go from around 10,000 rupees ($250) for some works of photography to more than $1 million for big-name artists who include Indian Modernists and leading international contemporaries. It may come as no big surprise that the market for modern and contemporary Indian art is still very much tied to its geographical roots: Most buyers are either Indian or of Indian origin.

“The biggest buy base for Indian art is Indians or those who belong to the Indian diaspora,” said Neha Kirpal, the IAS founder and director.Priyanka Mathew, a specialist in modern and contemporary Indian art at Sotheby’s auction house, agreed that “the majority of collectors are from India or non-resident Indians,” something she explained with reference to the limited exposure people outside the country have to Indian art.

But within this category of buyers, things are rapidly changing. As India’s economy is growing, so is the portion of the population that can afford to invest in art. This means many buyers are actually new to the art market – something that was reflected in last year’s summit when around 40% of sales went to first-time buyers. As a result, the profile of collectors is changing too.

Many new buyers are young, well-traveled corporate executives who made big money working in banking or in the country’s software industry. They tend to be more open to the daring trends of contemporary art than their older counterparts, some of whom are long-time patrons of Indian Modernists.However, the market for Indian art is far from mature. “We’ve got a long way to go,” said Ms. Kirpal who described the market as young. A major problem is the lack of infrastructure…