MUMBAI, Jan 22 — In India’s polluted northern city of Kanpur, Rajat Ghai has a penchant for Rado watches and Louis Vuitton shoes. Now, as the 31-year-old entrepreneur builds his dream home, he is indulging his designer tastes with a luxury bathroom. Ghai will spend US$28,000 (RM124,617) on designer fittings from American giant Kohler and Japan’s Toto, installing a jacuzzi bath tub, showers with steam features and a multifunctional toilet with a heated, temperature-control seat and an automatic deodoriser.
“Japan’s toilets are so futuristic and hygienic, it was like we were in a different world. I wanted to bring that experience home,” said Ghai, recalling a visit to Japan that inspired his purchase. “I really spend time here, I can relax, I can be with myself.
So I want it to be cosy and relaxed.” India is emerging as a hotspot for Kohler, Toto and Hansgrohe, the German manufacturer renowned for its taps and showers. The bathroom hardware companies are planning more stores, striking deals with developers and stepping up production in the world’s most populous nation as incomes grow.
UBS says that by 2028 India will have some 1 million millionaires, opens new tab, more than in Singapore, Hong Kong or Brazil. In some ways, the luxury boom is emblematic of India’s divides. The World Bank’s most recent estimates — from 2022 — showed 11 per cent, opens new tab of India’s population still defecated in the open.
But even as millions of Indians cut spendin.