Indian art's profitable brush
with the Internet By Indrajit Basu
KOLKATA - For Vasudevarao Umesh, owner of
a small art shop in Bangalore, from which he sells
paintings and other art objects, earning extra
money as a medical transcriptionist from his
shop's computer while his staff handled sales was
just a way of cashing in on India's famous
back-office outsourcing boom.
But being an
information technology-enabled outsourcing worker,
which required him to be online every day, gave
him the idea of listing his wares in an auction
website. For the small art seller eBay was the
only choice, and Umesh is a happy man today. "I
have customers from all over India as well as from
the US and
Australia," he is reported as
saying, "and now I get greater response online as
compared to my offline business."
Umesh is
not the only one who has benefited from the
emergence of an online market for Indian art.
Putting their works under the hammer on the
Internet has helped young and contemporary artists
like Atul Dodiya, Anandajit Ray, Baiju Parthan, GR
Iranna, Manish Pushkale and at least a dozen
others fetch record prices that they never
expected from gallery sales.
In the latest
auction, conducted by Saffronart, an Indian art
dealer which pioneered online auctions of Indian
art, on March 17, an Atul Dodiya work set
a new record by fetching over US$280,000.
Similarly, works of other young-generation artists
like Bose Krishnamachari, Justin Ponmany,
Surendran Nair and Jittish Kallat fetched twice
their estimates; while Manisha Parekh trebled
hers. For others like Anjum Singh, Sunil Padwal
and Baiju Parthan, the click-revenues were way
over their best ever.
"It took five years,
but Indian art's online market has caught up
finally," said Minal Vazirani, co-founder of
Saffronart. The firm claims that it accounted for
35% of the $51 million in revenues Indian art
auctions notched in 2005, most of which were
achieved through online sales.
"There has
been a big jump in online sales in the recent
years," added Vazirani, "and the scale has grown
dramatically not just in terms of sales or prices
but also in terms of the number of bidders and in
the profile and quality of bidders. We are getting
serious bidders these days."
According to
Vazirani, Saffronart forayed into the local online
art market gingerly at first, five years back, but
had to retreat hastily as sales were only $100,000
or so. However, Saffronart tried again last
December, and recorded unexpected sales of $12.5
million, and when it tried again in mid-March with
just contemporary Indian art, it raked in $4.5
million. "This is a lot considering that [the
March auction] was just on one section of Indian
art," said Vazirani.
Indeed, be it
contemporary or modern art, older genre art,
miniatures, artifacts, sculptures or even modern
art objects like brass lamps and exotic
handicrafts such as linen or textiles, the demand
for Indian art is booming both within the country
and overseas. This is luring gallery owners and
art dealers to increasingly take to online selling
not only for reaching out to a larger number of
buyers but also, according to Vazirani, "to
fulfill a need".
Market sources say that
the size of the auction house market for modern
and contemporary Indian art, which was just $5
million in 2003, grew to $13 million in 2004, and
touched $51 million in 2005. Saffronart's recent
online auctions attracted more than 400 bidders,
about 60% of whom were overseas buyers "primarily
from the US".
Seeing Saffronart's success,
many are jumping on the bandwagon. The
Mumbai-based The Arts Trust gallery is the next in
line, while Chennai-based Apparao Gallery just
concluded its first online auction in March. And
although Neville Tuli, the owner of Osian Art,
still thinks that physical auctions are the most
authentic way of selling and buying art,
reportedly, this Mumbai-based art gallery, too, is
mulling an online foray.
"On eBay India,
we have seen a vibrant art category evolve over
time," said Deepa Thomas, the website's
spokesperson, claiming its 2 million-strong user
community was fast taking to online purchases,
buying a piece of art on eBay India every 28
hours.
"Today, there are over 300 listings
in the art category on eBay India across
sub-categories of digital art, folk art, drawings
and posters, paintings, photographic images and
prints. And over 65% of the listings are auctions
as opposed to fixed price, which is different from
the overall India trend of significantly more
fixed price. There are even new artists who are
looking at eBay and the online world to list art
and create a buyer base," said Thomas.
One
of the biggest reasons driving the shift to online
buying is the fact that with a booming economy and
an increase in the earnings power of an average
Indian, the desire to lead a good life has
increased, too. And many find buying art online
"transparent and easy", said Thomas.
But
it is also easier and more convenient than having
to commute for hours to reach the galleries in
congested Mumbai, for instance, and not finding a
parking space. Vazirani added that online buying
platforms like Saffronart provided far more
information to make a decision than purchasing
through a visit to an art gallery.
"We
carry a list of comparables that buyers can refer
to to see what a similar work has sold for in
another auction," she said. "And the buyers'
premium is also generally lower on online sites
than in galleries."
But the overwhelming
driver is that Indian bidders are increasingly
becoming tech-savvy and are more willing to accept
the medium. There's also the question of higher
choice. "You can virtually visit many art
galleries sitting in your lounge, buy if you like
something, and get it delivered," said an
aficionado of modern Indian art.
Yet,
there are significant concerns limiting the
development of the business. The key concern area
for a first-time online buyer is the touch and
feel factor. Many still prefer to view and feel a
piece of art in person before they buy. Then,
there is the fear of getting duped by buying a
fake or getting something not really bid or
ordered for.
Unlike Saffronart, which
claims that it provides a certification for
whatever it sells online and goes into an
agreement with both buyers and sellers which one
can take recourse to, eBay, for instance, offers
no such guarantees.
"That's why you will
not find top art sales on eBay, because they do
not have a specialist [working in the category],"
said Vazirani. eBay's Thomas, however, argued that
eBay had a "Trust and Safety" team and many other
processes to ensure all transactions on eBay India
were safe and users had a safe and secure trading
environment.
"In fact, all transactions on
eBay India are covered under our Buyer Protection
program where, in the rare case of a buyer not
receiving the product he bought, eBay refunds them
up to $225," said Thomas.
Still, Vazirani
said that with increased awareness of the benefits
that it could provide over physical buying and
selling, online art dealing had a bright future in
the country. "In an online auction you have far
more information to make a decision than any other
form," said Vazirani. "Saffronart for instance
carries a list of comparables so a buyer can see
what a similar work is sold for in another
auction."
"Moreover, every single bid that
comes from an online bidding is a real bidding,
unlike a physical auction," she added.
Vazirani said that the bottom line was the
cost advantage of online transactions over
physical transactions. "Saffronart, for instance,
charges just 10% as a listing fee for online sales
versus the 20% fees that Sotheby's or Christie's
charge for a physical listing," she said.
Indrajit Basu is a Kolkata-based
equity-analyst-turned-journalist with more than 12
years of experience in business/finance and
technology journalism. Besides writing for Asia
Times Online, he also writes for US-based
publications, as well as IT companies.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing
.)
Atul Dodiya work set
a new record by fetching over US$280,000.
Similarly, works of other young-generation artists
like Bose Krishnamachari, Justin Ponmany,
Surendran Nair and Jittish Kallat fetched twice
their estimates; while Manisha Parekh trebled
hers. For others like Anjum Singh, Sunil Padwal
and Baiju Parthan, the click-revenues were way
over their best ever. 
