Indian Art Market 2025 – Quo Vadis?

With the art world spinning in every which direction, we felt it was a good time to take a comprehensive view on what was happening in the Indian art market and make sense of how and where things might grow over the next few years. This is not a report on Indian art market predictions, more a compendium of things we have seen develop over the last few years, which we feel will have a long-term impact on its growth and direction.

Recent reports from Art Basel Art Economics team estimates a drop of 12% in the overall value of art market around the world, to around USD 57.5bn in 2025, with transaction of high value art works most impacted.

Yet, Indian art scaled new heights in the last few months, with art works achieving higher valuation than ever before, breaking records of Indian modernists at art auctions from New York to Mumbai.

We recognise that the Indian art market remains a minuscule of the total international art market, with a handful of serious high value buyers, few multi-national galleries promoting Indian art domestically and internationally, through outposts and participation in art fairs.

But things are moving in this space, albeit slowly, outside of the news headlines of auction results, or behind the glare of Instagram posts and / or trendy events. We have been watching and interacting with this space for some time now, and we see a new crop of participants in the Indian art sphere, from corporates, to institutions and individuals, who are sowing commitment to this space, redrawing the art boundaries with their own interpretation, experimenting, investing, creating platforms, which no doubt will have far reaching impact on how this market evolves.

The flurry of activity, and of course the slew of news over the last few weeks, makes this a good time to take stock of what has been happening, and where it might go.

• Market size, shapes and forms

We begin with the most obvious elephant in the room. What is happening to the Indian art market with respect to valuations and volumes of sale, especially given all the tizzy we saw with the blockbuster South Asian sales for Christies and Saffronart.  

Over the last 7-8 years, we have been seeing a steady rise in the valuations of the art of blue-chip artists, especially modernists. This is evident in the news from auctions (since that is the only transparent pricing data for art) every few quarters. We see this pace has picked up even more over the last few years, with Husain’s Untitled (Gram Yatra) work from 1954 fetching a whopping Rs 118.62cr in the auction in March this year. The Saffronart auction in the subsequent week bought another feather in the cap of the Indian art market, grossing over USD 25mn for the first time for a singular auction with only 75 lots.

Without any serious research on the subject, estimating the size of the Indian art market remains precarious, even for market watchers like us. We do know that the market has more than doubled in the last 10 years (we estimate the value to be around USD 250mn in 2015-16), on the back of the aforementioned sales. The Art Basel UBS Art Market Report for 2025 provides a global market review, with India clubbed in the ‘Other’ bucket of 8% of the global market. Since this ‘other’ includes everything from the middle eastern market to Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and Australia – it becomes difficult to zero in on the share of this approximately USD 4.5bn pie. We do estimate that given that the Indian economy is the only one showing persistent growth within the global volatility, and the fact that much of our consumption and GDP is primarily dependent on internal consumption, the Indian art market will continue to see rise in valuation and volume over the coming years, and the art market will increase its pie share considerably over the next five years, maybe even to get its own named slice!

In spite of these heartening thoughts, and expectations, it behooves us to note that while collectors and buyers are becoming increasingly comfortable with spending more money on art, the overall size of the buyer base for high value art remains disappointingly minuscule.  By all accounts there are only a handful of buyers who are bidding against each other at auctions, driving up the price of the art, and while this base has seen a trickle of increase, it is still a long way away from the creating the mega impact and depth the Indian art market needs.

So, what will the new collector base look like? We see the new wealth creators becoming buyers of art as an investment. We also see art being used as collateral for raising capital and debt in the market. In addition, we see the buyer base expanding from Mumbai and Delhi to the southern cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, where more investment and new industries are getting concentrated.

Rise in art valuations and buying will also, necessarily, be accompanied by outfits undertaking authentications, valuation, as well as overall art dissemination. Much has to be done to get this to fruition, and as we mentioned before, the overall eco-system for art will play a role.

However, while we love growth (in numbers!), we also want to understand how the Indian art market ecosystem is evolving, outside the galleries, fairs and auctions; get a more holistic perspective of the grassroots level, which is likely to have an outreach at the regional and local level.

India is such a vast country, that it has always been difficult to suggest one unifying factor in art. This is of course what makes it both maddening, interesting, and difficult to predict. So, what else augurs for the Indian art space, and how will the ecosystem evolve?

• More Indian art at international platforms, including museums and art awards, and greater international representation at fairs, biennale, pop-up events

The recent exhibition (March – July 2025) of Arpita Singh at Serpentine Gallery, London is her first major solo exhibition outside of India. Contemporary artists like Jitish Kallat, Shilpa Gupta and Nikhil Chopra are being shown regularly in museums including the Metropolitan, institutions such as the Barbican Center in London. Nalini Malani has bagged some of the most prestigious awards such as the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy and also got a solo show at the Centre Pompidou.

The big daddy of all art events through time is the Venice Biennale, though India has participated only twice so far! In the 2024 edition, 12 artists from India were showcased in the section curated by Adriano Pedrosa, ‘Foreigners Everywhere’.

In addition, private galleries such as Chemould, Experimenter participate regularly in the art fairs.

We find the opening of three Indian contemporary galleries, Chemould, Vadehra and Jhaveri Contemporary in the same street in London, in the span of the same few weeks particularly noteworthy. It appears that the traditional affinity of Indian market to this city remains unabated, in spite of the economic challenges the city has been facing.

The visibility and increased market demand for Indian art will also see more collaborations with international foundations, museums and non-profit platforms, thereby building familiarity and paving the way for more artists to be shown across the globe and increasing buyer interest both internationally and domestically.

• More pop-up art venues in India, outside of Mumbai and New Delhi, with collaborations with private organisation, foundations

  
  

Arthashila, which is active in its outreach and multidisciplinary programming have established spaces in Ahmedabad, Santiniketan and New Delhi, which attract visitors not just for its comprehensive shows and exhibitions, but also the sensibility shown in its build form architecture. We see this aesthetic incorporation in Hampi Labs, established by Jindal Foundation at Hampi, Karnataka, as well. The space invites artists, enthusiasts, curators, collectors through residencies, exhibitions, programs, to its flowing built-form, emulating the undulating landscape.

We were also pleasantly surprised to see a vibrant Sculpture Park, which adds a significant sculpture to its exhibition every year, in Maihar, a sleepy town in heart of Madhya Pradesh!

Spaces such as these helping build a robust ecosystem for artists to grow and spread their wings outside of the gallery system.

• New galleries with a focus on contemporary art

We have noted a proliferation of new galleries in Mumbai and Delhi, by younger gallerists focusing on young collectors including XXL, Art and Charlie, Nine Fish, and Cultivate Art are expanding the market to include experimental curation and artworks. This is a heartening trend. Younger gallerists promoting new voices creates a dynamic space for Indian art to grow.

• More regional galleries focusing on regional artists

We have been seeing a development of regional art galleries, outside of the purview gallery scene of Mumbai and Delhi, bringing a more regionally nuanced sensibility to their respective market. 

Ahmedabad, Hyderabad are making their presence felt by participation in fairs and representing artists from the region with thought provoking exhibitions. We see new galleries in these cities, willing to push the envelope and bring new artists with a fresh perspective to the forefront. These are good trends. With the vast geography and regional aesthetics and preferences of India, exposure of local artist through regional galleries and institutions is the step in the right direction.

Kolkata continues to hold its place with galleries such as ‘Experimenter’ opening in a space in Mumbai as well. DAG gallery with spaces in New Delhi, Mumbai and New York, has announced the refurbishment of Jamini Roy’s house, one of India foremost modernist and National Art Treasure, establishing India’s first artist specific museum.

We would expect that auction platforms with a regional / local bias become prevalent as this space grows. We also suppose that local crafts and design trends are likely to get incorporated in this space, as it emerges and grows. Traditional craft practice is taking on new avatar, be it bidri from Bidar in Karnataka seen as new age lamps and furniture pieces or the use of lacquering techniques.

Bengaluru especially is coming into its own as a fulcrum for arts. We saw this focus on art, especially with a regional bias in the conceptualisation and design of the new Terminal 2 at Bengaluru airport. In addition, Bengaluru boasts of two new museums – Museum of Art and Photography and the Science Gallery apart from the NGMA and the state museum! New galleries are opening up and they have some vibrant multidisciplinary art festivals, Bengaluru 'Hubba' being a leading voice.

• Role and growth of online platforms, technology, adoption of more AI tools in the development of promotion, sales and education of arts

We have often, and in great detail, discussed the possibility of how this will help Indian art with some excitement. However, this is a slow growing space with some small endevours as of now. One such platform is NewArtX, which is a studio working with artists to help them translate ideas into the digital form.

Similarly, immersive art remains a space where no major investment has come it, such as the new TeamsLab exhibition space in Abu Dhabi. Small local efforts continue, such as the Van Gogh’s immersive exhibition which popped up recently in Delhi. We had written, some time back, now Indian art, mythology, and stories are a perfect receipe for immersive experiences. As of now, though, this space seems to be limited to re-productions of international shows, with no disruption at a local level.

• Indian art market evolves rapidly!

  
  

As we see the Indian art sphere evolve, what we are struck by the organic small efforts, which are driving change. What is interesting is how the space is changing to evolve and incorporate the local, national as well as international trends, crafting it with its own sensibilities, and realities.

It is important to mention that India’s foremost collector and museum Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) plans to open its vast space in the National Capital Region by December 2026. Spread over 100,000 sqm, the space will no doubt be a game changer for the development of institutional art infrastructure for India.

We had started writing this article a couple of months ago, however, we kept getting sidetracked to finish! And so much has happened in the art space during this period, notably the announcement of Art Basel new outpost at Doha. We have also read quotes on how the fair expects to expand its influence to South Asia (we read this as primarily India!) though this new venture. This is indeed an interesting turn of events for the Indian art market. Will this be the forceful catalyst to catapult the Indian art market to its next growth phase for galleries, fairs and institutions; or will this act at odds against the art infrastructure in India, the competing fair timings with the fair at Delhi, competing events and spaces in the Emirates ….an interesting space to watch.

What it does signal to us, is that the space is indeed churning, and the positive focus of the last few years is likely to produce some exciting times ahead.