The Indian Art Market Boom

The Indian Art Market Boom

The Indian art market has been receiving a lot of media attention recently and with good reason. Although it may not seem like a country that could sustain an art market, India has recently experienced an economic boom that has seen the emergence of a new wealthy class of people who need

something to invest their money in. With art prices in India tripling across the board there is a good reason why people are viewing India as a serious player in the world art market.

The auction market in India gives a good indication of the progress of the art market which was worth $150 million last year which is almost triple what it was worth in 2005. The number of buyers is still relatively small but with such a large population and continued economic growth the future for India’s art market should be huge.

To give you an idea of how far the market has come, an artwork by M.F.Husain could have been purchased for $16,000 in 2000 but are now selling for several hundred thousand dollars. Another artist Ram Kumar is now selling works for up to $500,000 whereas in 2003 they were being bought for $32,000 which is an increase of 1462%.

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.