India has added over 214 billionaires in one year. Of these, a significant percentage are women who have come into money either due to inheritance or because they have earned all that dosh.

This is one of the most significant findings of the late-2018 survey conducted by Hurun India and Kotak Wealth Management. Its recent report, which compiles the list of the wealthiest women in India, has put the average wealth of the women on that list to about Rs 4,000 crore.

Hurun Report was started by Rupert Hoogewerf, also known by his Chinese name Hu Run, who currently serves as the chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, a research, media and investments business. It was best known for its ‘Hurun China Rich List’, a ranking of the wealthiest individuals in China till last year. But this is the first time that Hurun Report and Kotak Wealth Management have surveyed the wealthiest women in India. And their findings have thrown up some interesting insights.

Among them is this piece of information: “With India’s thriving consumer spending and a maturing tech ecosystem, more women will lead the entrepreneurship story in India,” says Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun Report India. According to Jaideep Hansraj, CEO, Wealth Management & Priority Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank, the ranking recognises India’s leading women — entrepreneurs, businesswomen, investors and inheritors. “We are seeing a significant change with more and more women taking advantage of increasing opportunities to become active participants in business. The report acknowledges the Indian woman’s role in creating wealth in one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” he says.

While predictably, right at the top of the pecking order are women like Smitha M Crishna from the Godrej family, Roshni Nadar, CEO of HCL and Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, it does throw up some interesting names like Pia Singh of DLF Realty and DLF Emporio, the luxury mall, Sophie Ahmed of Cipla and Manjiri Chandak of Avenue Supermarts.

The finding, or the survey, is spot on time. World-over, there is a growing interest in the kind of wealth women hold today: some inherited, a lot hard-earned too, as women CEOs and entrepreneurs come of age. There is a growing recognition that a lot of wealth today rests in the hands of women: from entrepreneurs in their own right to heads of businesses and also as inheritors. The battle for gender equality has put the topic of female wealth possession in the limelight. The Global Wealth Report (GWR), again released in December 2018, by CreditSuisse examined the evidence of women wealth holdings.

And the research revealed that the women’s share in wealth rose considerably over the 21st century and today, they hold around 40 percent of global wealth. The available data lead CreditSuisse to conclude that women's share of wealth is likely to be in the 40 percent–45 percent range. Internationally, management consultancy firms such as Accenture and Ernst & Young have begun focusing attention on women-oriented wealth management services, as well as women wealth mangers.

Luxury’s New Consumers

While women have always been consumers of luxury fashion, their emergence as a force to reckon with in other ‘non-traditional’ segments, such as cars or alcohol, is the result of the ‘higher amount of wealth in their hands’ findings.

From Harley Davidson to some sports apparel makers, including women in a marketing conversation once limited largely to men comes at a time when the female purchasing power globally is estimated at anywhere from $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually, as per Nielsen data.

Aston Martin’s President and Group CEO Andy Palmer says that since 2015, the brand has begun looking at women as serious potential customers. Many in the know add that the car brand views women as a way to increase their dwindling sales. Last year, Aston Martin created a female advisory panel to review current and future products and offer feedback that would help shape their future launches. In fact, in September 2018, Aston Martin named its first female chair as it prepared for £5 billion stock market floatation. Dr Palmer says, “If I look at the China market, half of Aston V-12s and the 12-cylindered DB11s were bought by women. I believe automakers will have to increasingly look at what women want, in terms of even the car design. In India too, the interest from women in some of our cars have led us to believe that there is a market here.” By end-2019, Aston Martin is likely to launch a compact SUV which will appeal to a wider section of women.

Much like Aston Martin, Harley Davidson sees women as growth drivers in a diverse market such as India. Karen Davidson, the great granddaughter of Harley-Davidson Motor Co.’s co-founder William A. Davidson, who toured India last year to promote the brand, says women in India could emerge to be the key growth driver for her business. “Our company is scouting for ‘Ladies of Harley’, or people who could inspire others,” she says.

In 2019, the motorcycle brand is also scouting for a partner with a manufacturing and distribution footprint to make lightweight motorcycles for use in India, which will aggressively be targeted towards women. The Milwaukee-based company, known for its heavy touring motorcycles, said that it would launch a 250cc to 500cc motorcycle in India to boost sales in the world's largest two-wheeler market, and up their appeal to women riders in the country.

The serious wooing of women is not confined to just the auto segment. Once, IWC Schaffhausen used to promote its watches with the tagline ‘engineered for men’. But recently, the brand launched its revived Da Vinci collection, with two watches—the Da Vinci Automatic 36 and Da Vinci Automatic Moon Phase 36, both created solely for women. IWC chose to revisit its archives for design inspiration to appeal to a female audience—from the classical circular case shape, which was revived from the 1980s to the new ‘flower of life’ pattern on the casebacks of the women’s only watches.

Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Richmond Group, which owns Montblanc, underlines the buying power of women, stating they make up 25 percent of the watch market. “We foresee that more women will be making their own buying decisions, because there are more women in countries like India and China who are making their own money,” Lambert says.

Montblanc expanded its women’s Bohème collection with three new models that incorporate its patented manufacture ExoTourbillon movement, noted for its technical design–the tourbillon cage is kept small and does not fully encircle the balance wheel, which allows the large balance wheel to rotate freely while conserving energy. This leads to a more precise timekeeping mechanism.

And if you need any more proof of the growing purchasing power of women, then look at how legacy, male-driven spirits brands are making the biggest leaps in terms of engaging women. In India, where we ostensibly consume more scotch than what Scotland can possibly produce, it is interesting that there are more women drinking scotch, many of them in cocktails. “The growing interest in whiskey cocktails in India and the spurt in craft cocktail bars is the result of more women interested in whisky,” says Vineet Agrawal, Marketing and Commercial Director - India Area at Brown-Forman Worldwide LLC, which sells Jack Daniel’s whisky.

Clearly, the female factor in luxury could emerge as one of the several defining factors that could change how luxury brands grow and thrive.

Deepali Nandwani is a journalist who keeps a close watch on the world of luxury.

First Published:Feb 8, 2019 12:05 PM IST