He also emphasises that a good work must evoke a strong, lasting feeling
A Year of Records: The Indian Art Market at Auction
The market for Indian art is rising. We trace the evolution and the future as it unfolds
Between January and December 2025, Indian art sold by the top auction companies achieved a total turnover of ₹2,391.52 crore ($271.76 million), with 2,257 total lots being offered. The sell-through rate was an impressive 96.54 per cent. This is a clear growth over FY 2024-25, which saw a total turnover of ₹1,500 crore ($170.45 million) for Indian art sold by top auction companies, with 2,575 total lots sold.
In FY 2024-25, India’s leading auction company AstaGuru was the powerhouse of the scene, accounting for 28.31 per cent of auction turnover with ₹424.63 crore ($48.25 million). In 2025 alone, its turnover reached ₹520.03 crore ($59.09 million) across 652 lots sold. AstaGuru’s December 2025 auction was a white-glove event, with all 87 lots sold. This included a 1977 oil on canvas by Tyeb Mehta, Untitled (Gesture), originally from the famed Chester and Davida Herwitz collection, which was sold for ₹53.54 crore ($6.08 million). The same auction also saw other Masters reinforce their legacies with impressive numbers: Jehangir Sabavala’s 1996 work Conspirators more than doubled its higher estimate to reach ₹12.14 crore ($1.38 million).
Similarly, the 100-year-old Master Krishen Khanna saw his work The Last Supper fetch ₹10.22 crore ($1.16 million), more than three times the higher estimate. One of the year’s most interesting results wasn’t a painting, but a collection of 35 hand-written letters from Rabindranath Tagore to D.P. Mukerji. Selling for ₹5.90 crore ($670,454), these letters offered a rare glimpse into a “mind in motion”. This result was validated later in the year when his 1937 work, From Across The Dark, shattered its ₹2–3 crore estimate to sell for ₹10.73 crore ($1.22 million).
Read the full story in the premiere issue of LuxeTrope, on stands now.
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