Making the Cut
A decade ago, Leonard Lauder, Chairman of cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, while attending the Elizabeth Hurley-Arun Nayyar wedding in Jodhpur, was so enamoured by the ayurvedic beauty products of Forest Essentials that he acquired a minority stake in the company. One of India's premier hotel chains, the 1934-born Oberoi Group of Hotels, has time and again been recognised as being among the best in the world. But these have been exceptions, and until recently, few Indian luxury brands have made the global cut, having largely a reputation for being kitschy. Overseas, a "Made in India" tag was hardly an asset amid the swish set.
This is not the case any longer; not when Nirav Modi has his eponymous jewellery store on Madison Avenue, New York, or when Sujatha Keshavan, Ravi Prasad and Meeta Malhotra have set up their new luxury clothing outlet Varana on Dover Street, in London's Mayfair. Three Indian companies - Gitanjali Gems, Titan and PC Jeweller - have made it to the Top 50 of Deloitte's
