Fifteen brands are ready to enter India tomorrow. There is no space
A country of 1.5 billion people has just three true luxury malls. Expanding the main one will not be finished before the end of 2028.
In India’s rapidly growing economy, millions of newly affluent consumers are fuelling demand for bags and accessories from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior. The problem is getting to a store — there aren’t that many of them.
With nearly 1.5 billion people and an economy growing more than 6%, India is expanding faster than China, the luxury industry’s growth engine for over a decade. Yet top brands are struggling to expand amid a severe shortage of high-quality retail space.
India has only three true luxury malls: two in New Delhi — the Emporio and the Chanakya, owned by real estate developer DLF — and the Jio World Plaza in Mumbai, owned by the Reliance conglomerate.
“We have regular requests from the parent companies — from LVMH Group, from Kering, from Richemont — to give them more space for the brands they want to get into India,” said Saurabh Bharara, head of luxury malls at DLF. “We have top 15 brands that are ready to enter India, if we give them space tomorrow.” Right now, he added, there is “zero availability.”
DLF is planning an expansion of the Emporio that will double its 160,000 square feet of leasable space, but it will likely only be operational by the end of 2028. LVMH, Kering and Richemont declined to comment.
The scale of the demand is clear: India now ranks fourth globally in the number of individuals with wealth above $100 million, behind the US, China and Japan, according to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025.