The lobby of the Hotel Taj Palace at Delhi looked as if it was under an Italian invasion on the day of the conference. Perfectly clad figures in Versace and Missoni and Valentino heels were strutting around flaunting their ‘it’ bags from Fendi and Tod’s — as I rushed for my interview with Armando Branchini, the 62-year-old professor at Milan’s Bocconi University Branchini started off as a “young economist in the early ’70s” and by 1987 formed the InterCorporate - Strategia e Impresa — a consultancy firm specialising in business strategies and strategic marketing in Milan. “I’ve been in the field of corporate strategy and national and international marketing since then,” he says. It was this interest that motivated him to become one of the founders of Altagamma in 1992. “Altagamma is a non-profit association of an exclusive group of renowned Italian companies. They reflect the Italian style and culture in their company management and prod-ucts. These companies stand out for their quality, design and prestige,” he explains.

India’s rapidly growing luxury market caught the eye of the brand honchos a few years ago. Branchini says, “The marketplace appears to be extremely promising, thanks to an emerging class of 10 to 30 million of potential ‘luxury customers’. But even after several brands making their presence felt in India, about three quarters of the Indian customers still buy luxury products abroad.” He adds, “Whereas in Dubai only one third of the people shop for them while travelling.” This he blames on the overregulated market, limited infrastructure and ‘coun–tervailing duties’. Altagamma hopes for a reduction of custom duties and, above all, the re-calculation of the countervailing duties, due to which a great quantity of foreign luxury goods sold to India are 20 to 40 per cent more expensive than in London, Dubai or Singapore. “The duties imposed currently represent one of the major hurdles for international brands willing to enter the Indian marketplace. There has been no change in this scene whatsoever. But we are hopeful,” he smiles.