India's Rich Get the Personal Touch

Like the wealthy anywhere else, affluent Indians love to buy luxurious cars, clothes, and accessories. They also want exceptional service

By Nandini Lakshman

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One evening not too long ago, India's top fashion designers, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, invited 35 members of the country's moneyed class over for dinner at their home in a posh suburb of Mumbai. The affair was elegant and understated: The guests sipped a 1999 Dom Perignon as they were served home-cooked Goan fish curry and rice. "We are the present-day maharajahs—in thought, at least—so we reconnected with friends from all walks of life over a luxurious meal," says Khosla.

The sumptuous repast was one of the eight organized by Moët Hennessey (LVMH.PA) over the past year to give potential customers a taste of its wine and spirits in an exclusive setting.

For Moët and other luxury purveyors, India is a land of enormous promise. Sure, two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion population lives in the hinterland with little access or means to such luxury, but there are almost 100,000 dollar-millionaires in the country. American Express (AXP) predicts that India's millionaire brigade will balloon by 12.8% a year for the next three years. Its nouveau riche could spend $30 billion on high-end goods by 2015, according to consulting firm A.T. Kearney. They now spend about $4 billion, while the Chinese spend more than $5 billion. A survey by by A.C. Nielsen early this year shows that India is the third most brand-conscious place in the world after Greece and Hong Kong.

Money to Spend

Some of the desire is mixed up with India's royal past, and the tradition of luxury that was the culture of the maharajas, who would commission Hermès or Vuitton for bespoke products, like Hermès saris. But a lot of it is simply the exuberance of a new, economically and culturally open India with some money to spend on high-quality foreign items perceived as unique, sometimes for the first time in generations.

What Moët and the others are discovering, though, is that the most effective way to reach India's increasingly aspirational middle class is customer by customer. "Indians love to be served," says Vijay Murjani, managing director of the Murjani Group, which for the past year has been selling items from Gucci, Jimmy Choo, La Perla, and Bottega Veneta in a boutique in Mumbai's five-star Trident Hotel.

The marketing executives are doing what they usually do to get attention: They hold their glittering store launches, which are largely in Mumbai and New Delhi, and only now opening in other Indian metros like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. They negotiate with socialites and celebrities for endorsements, and pamper their regular customers, and advertise in glossy fashion magazines.