Date:13/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/13/stories/2006101301851800.htm

Business

LMC starts India operations

Special Correspondent

It is a forum of luxury goods marketers

— PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY.

SOFT LAUNCH: Gregory J. Furman (right), Chairman and Founder, Luxury Marketing Council Worldwide, with Rob Hennin (left), Country Manager, American Express India, and Devyani Raman, CEO, The Luxury Marketing Council of India, at the launch of the India chapter in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Luxury Marketing Council Worldwide (LMC), the apex body for luxury goods and service providers across the globe, on Thursday formally launched its India chapter to help international and Indian players in the segment maximise their revenues from the domestic and overseas markets.

(The Luxury Marketing Council is a result-oriented network of top management and marketers from leading luxury goods and services businesses who meet regularly to build more profitable relationships with their very best customers and prospects through innovative marketing collaborations and creative exploration of critical issues and trends, the council says in its website.)

In India, LMC will function through the Luxury Marketing Council of India, which is headed by Devyani Raman. Pegging the Indian luxury market at $444 million, Ms. Raman told media persons here that the market was slated to grow at 30 per cent.

There were lots of opportunities in India which needed to be tapped, she said, adding that the council would be a forum for CEOs and CMOs of leading luxury brands in India to identify roadblocks in maximising their revenues and would jointly work on devising ways to remove the difficulties.

The LMC Chairman and Founder, Gregory J Furman, who was present on the occasion, said, "LMC has 700 CEOs and CMOs from leading luxury firms across the globe as its members and is now actively looking at the Asia-Pacific market to extend its services.'' The affluent consumer segment was set to grow at 13 per cent over the next few years and the market presented tremendous potential for luxury goods and service providers, he added.