Yashovardhan Saboo: “The growth of luxury watches in India will increase steadily by 11 to 12% a year”

To understand to what extent the Indian market really represents the next growth market for Swiss watchmaking, Luxury Tribune conducted an exclusive interview with Yashovardhan Saboo, founder and chairman of Ethos Watches, India's largest watch retailer, which posted a revenue of approximately 107.5 million euros ($119 million) last year. With four decades of experience, Saboo has been a pioneer in India’s watch market journey, also having established KDDL, one of the country’s first watch manufacturers that supplies components to renowned Swiss watch brands.

India imports less than 1% of Swiss watch exports, but with rising consumer spending power, the market holds immense growth potential. In 2023 India imported watches valued at about CHF 219 million, 39.5% more than in 2021.

In a candid conversation in his hometown, Chandigarh, Saboo expressed confidence in the unprecedented growth of India’s watch market, while advocating a localised approach. He also cautioned against drawing comparisons to China's market dynamics and its remarkable historical rise.

Founded in 2003, Ethos has become India's only nationwide premium and luxury watch retailer, with over 60 stores. When would you say the Indian market truly gained momentum over the last 20 years, and how do you forecast its future growth?

Yashovardhan Saboo. When we started Ethos, none of the premium watch retailers in India had scalable retail business models. Back then, watch retailing was not so much about creating a business model but more about raking in profits. Meanwhile, Indian consumers who wanted to buy expensive watches were either buying from outside India or buying watches that were smuggled into the country. However, we knew Indians would want to buy watches officially in India, and from world-class stores, so we established Ethos.

At around the same time, shopping malls had started to come up in India. There was a popular misconception that Indians will not shop in malls because malls are air-conditioned and that the extra cost would be passed on to shoppers. This was quickly proven wrong as consumers embraced the convenience of malls. The malls thrived, allowing us to expand our network nationwide. Demand for luxury watches in India started picking up pace about 7 years ago after a nationwide GST (general service tax or VAT) was introduced, and also the per-capita income hit a new high, and the number of HNIs (high net-worth individuals) started to grow. But the more remarkable growth started after the pandemic due to an evolution in the luxury buying behaviour of Indian consumers. They educated themselves and didn’t want to delay spending on desired luxuries.This growth momentum and buying behaviour is likely to continue as the spending power and aspirations of luxury consumers evolves. Then, there is also the anticipated implementation of a new foreign trade agreement signed between Switzerland and India, which will gradually reduce import duties on Swiss watches in India from 22% to 0%.

What sets buying habits of Indian consumers apart from other key markets?