Vogue Launches in India but is Competition on the Way?

The fashion bible makes its debut today in India. The first issue features Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra and Preity Zinta on the cover along with three models, Vogue aims to conquer the fashion world in India like it has conquered the fashion world in America.

But Condé Nast has big plans for the magazine and Vogue is testing the waters in India. If the magazine does well, Conde Nast also plans on introducing others magazines like Glamour, Traveller, Vanity Fair and Wired.

The magazine industry in India grows six per cent a year and, Conde Nast India, Alex Kuruvila believes that the influx of luxury brands will help the magazine grow and become successful. The magazine seeks to celebrate the Indian women and the richness of traditional Indian Fashion.

"We've been studying the Indian market for over a year," says Alex Kuruvilla, chief executive of Condé Nast India, "Our timing couldn't be better."

According to KSA Technopak’s 2006 study in India the country has more than 1 million households with an income of $100,000. Magazines such as Men’s Health, Maxim, and Golf Digest introduced their magazines to India last year, and magazines such as Rolling Stone and Harper’s Bazaar are looking to get their hands on some of those readers.

"We will raise the bar because we are the ultimate style-bible," Priya Tanna, Vogue India editor, told Reuters.

Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Seventeen, Hello!, Time Out, OK! are just some of the magazines that are already on newsstands in India. And it seems that slowly but surely the competition for readership will become stiff just like it has been in the U.S. But Kuruvilla is confident that the magazine will strike gold in the land of fashion starved millionaires.

"The Indian market has arrived and so have we," Kuruvilla said. "We have a huge turnout of advertisements already."