Betting on the big wave

LEISURE: And now, a Mumbai boat show to scale up the luxury boating industry.

A new generation of wealthy Indians are turning converts to the profligacy associated with owning a yacht, and boat manufacturers the world over are taking note. Come February, at the Mumbai International Boat Show, they will arrive in multiples to effect more conversions.

"I got tired of answering questions about why India didn't have a leisure boating market despite such extensive coastlines," says Manav Shroff, director of the proposed boat show.

Shroff (India's representative at the 2004 Olympics, and national coach of the British sailing team for years) with partner Sujay Chohan, former country head at Gartner, has decided to jumpstart the industry straight from its commercial nucleus "" Mumbai.

This isn't the first attempt to organise the fragmented and largely unquantifiable buying and selling activity in the industry. Kochi's India International Boat Show, which concluded its fifth event last weekend , has been fairly successful.

But where the Kochi boat show is seen as wavering between the business of boating and the supplementary objective of promoting Kerala's water-based tourism, the Mumbai boat show is neither government-funded nor will it comprise a manifest tourism component.

All indices point to Mumbai being an ideal venue. It's the perfect combination of wealth and lifestyle along with an established yachting calendar and active yacht clubs.

"This is where the money is," says a yacht importer. Globally, it isn't uncommon to have two boat shows that are complementary to each other. Toby Allies of the British Marine Federation, who offers representation at both shows and will play strategic advisor to the Mumbai event, suggests the same. "The London and Southampton boat shows play different but equally vital roles in the industry calendar."

The Mumbai fair will showcase the entire gamut of leisure boats from kayaks to sailboats and luxury yachts "" all save the super yachts. "At $50-75 million apiece for a 150-footer, that's a whole different ballgame," laughs Chohan. Any estimates of the size of the Indian market, however, remain fuzzy. Some estimate it at over $10 million and growing at 15 per cent every year. Others just couldn't say.

That the Ferretti group, the largest manufacturer of luxury yachts, has active representation in India speaks volumes of manufacturers' faith in the emergence of the market, but that not a single Pershing (a Ferretti brand) has sold yet means the big spenders are biding their time.

"No one is in this for the short haul, but the long term India strategy has all of us return every year," says Allies, whose British Marine Federation represents the interests of 1,600 British vendors.

"India is the final frontier for manufacturers looking for a new market," indicates Chohan. The inflection point before the boom could well be the construction of the country's first marina. A potential 60-berth facility in Kochi has made little progress.

"Buyers could be put off by the lack of a secure berthing facility for a Rs 5 crore boat," says Chohan, "not to mention the danger involved in carrying fuel back and forth in jerry cans."

Chohan and Shroff are hopeful that response to the show will trigger some level of government enthusiasm. They are also confident the show will generate enough business to allow them to break even by the end of the second year.

Next step: to convince manufacturers to shift manufacturing to India. "We have the skilled labour, so why not become a hub for low cost manufacturing?" asks Chohan. Promoting luxury and generating local income "" now that's a strong argument in favour of the nascent industry.