INDIA'S ART APPRECIATION

摘要

HAS BEEN the best investment in India in recent years? No, if s not an outsourcer such as Wipro, Tata, or Infosys. To get supercharged returns, you'd have done far better with a painting by Ram Kumar. A 6-foot-by-4-foot oil that sold for 32,000 dollars in 2003 might fetch 500,000 dollars today--a 1,462 percent runup. There has long been a global market for Indian miniature paintings, sculptures, and other antiquities, but interest in the country's modern art has lagged. Now, a robust economy, a new moneyed class, and the energetic participation of young expat Indians are boosting sales of contemporary Indian art to new highs. In April a new gallery opened in Bombay every week, and sellout shows are the norm in big cities across India. Jerry Rao, chairman of software outsourcer MphasiS BFL Ltd., shows his collection in the com-pany's offices worldwide. In the past two years, investors have started at least four "art funds" in which a curator buys and sells artworks instead of stocks. And since March, Bombay's Economic Times has even published an "art index" aggregating prices for works by 51 top artists.