India's art market is entering a new phase as rising auction values, more buyers, and greater transparency reshape the market that was once largely confined to a small group of collectors.
Auction sales surged 43.7% year-on-year to ₹1,548.9 crore in the first half of 2026, even as the number of works offered remained broadly unchanged. The growth could have further to run, veteran Mumbai gallerist and auctioneer Dadiba Pundole told Mint.
Pundole believes art is now firmly established as an investment category rather than a passing trend, with the bigger opportunity in the country's still-small base of serious collectors relative to its growing pool of wealthy individuals. “Now, it’s quite clear that art is here as an investment. It’s not just a flash in the pan, and it’s going to reverse,” he said.
Its upcoming auction on 24 September in Mumbai, featuring 81 lots, will include works such as Vasudev S. Gaitonde’s untitled 1963 oil on canvas, estimated at ₹12-18 crore, and a Jangarh Singh Shyam work estimated at ₹4-6 crore. Also on offer are Maqbool Fida Husain’s The Red Girl, a 1952 oil on canvas estimated at ₹3-5 crore; his undated work Ganesha, estimated at ₹1.5-2.5 crore; Sayed Haider Raza’s untitled 1959 gouache on paper, estimated at ₹1-2 crore; and a Manjit Bawa work estimated at ₹4-6 crore.
Pundole, who joined his family’s art business, Pundole Art Gallery, in the 1980s, is one of the longest-standing figures in the country's modern art market. The gallery became an important early platform for modernist artists who broke from academic and traditional styles. They formed the Progressive Artists’ Group in 1947, which included artists such as Husain, F.N. Souza and Raza.
On the upswing
Pundole said the current boom in art sales is less an endpoint than an indication of the market’s potential. The country’s wealthy population has expanded considerably, with millionaires growing, but only a small proportion of the wealthy collect art seriously, he said. As more of them enter the market, he expects the collector base to widen.
In April, Knight Frank’s Luxury Investment Index showed the global collectables market stabilizing after several years of correction, with collectors becoming more selective and placing greater emphasis on rarity, provenance and cultural significance. Art was among the stronger-performing categories in 2025.
India’s pool of ultra-high-net-worth individuals is also expanding rapidly. Its Wealth Report 2026 said the country had 19,877 people with a net worth of more than $30 million in 2026, the sixth-highest UHNWI population globally. The number is projected to rise 27% to 25,217 by 2031, while the country’s billionaire population is expected to jump 51% to 313 over the same period. Mumbai remains the biggest wealth hub, accounting for 35.4% of the country's ultra-rich, followed by Delhi at 22.8%.
That expansion is already changing where galleries look for buyers. Pundole’s has begun showcasing works in markets such as Chandigarh. He said the market is also seeing greater interest in artists from southern India and in artists who worked before the Progressives, as collectors reassess the breadth of Indian art history.
The market’s infrastructure is changing too. Pundole said the biggest structural change over the past five years has been greater transparency, with dealers, auction houses and collectors putting more effort into research. “There’s a lot more transparency coming on the market and a lot more research being done,” he said.
Passion or investment?
Pundole, however, said there’s a distinction between art being an investment and art being an investment product. A person entering financial markets without understanding them could be right occasionally by accident and wrong most of the time, he said. “It’s like a punt.” A mutual fund, by comparison, allows an investor to hand money to a professional manager. With art, the buyer has to make the decisions themselves, from the artist and individual work to the price paid.
The spectacular multiples generated by some Indian works can therefore be seductive. Pundole recalled that paintings selling for ₹3,500-5,000 in the 1980s could already make buyers raise their eyebrows, while some of those works have since appreciated many times over. But he cautioned against assuming that past returns can simply be extrapolated.
“Collectors will always remember their successes but never failures,” he said.
The collector base is also getting younger. Pundole said buyers now enter the market in their late 20s and early 30s, compared with collectors in their 40s when he began. Many have created their own wealth rather than inherited from collecting traditions. Earlier generations often bought art to complement their homes, he said, while younger buyers may initially seek a recognizable artist as a statement of taste before developing a more personal interest in collecting.
The market could also eventually see more supply from inherited collections. Pundole said large estate sales remain relatively uncommon because India still has a limited number of substantial private collections of the previous generation. But when an entire collection comes to an auction house, it can be particularly valuable.
“The bigger picture is huge,” he said. But after an unusually strong run, he is wary of assuming prices can continue rising at the same pace and could see geopolitical turmoil affect how much people spend on art.