Market Intelligence

The Indian Art Market, in One Number.

HIAI is Hacoco's directional benchmark for the Indian secondary art market, built from normalized auction evidence across 57 tracked artists.

200

Index 2025

Last updated September 2026

+20.9%

1Y Return

+39.9%

3Y Return

+61.9%

5Y Return

About HIAI

HIAI is Hacoco's directional benchmark for the Indian secondary art market, built from normalized auction and resale evidence across tracked artists. It is designed to show market movement and liquidity signals, not guarantee the value of any individual artwork. Specific works require comparable-led analysis across medium, period, provenance, condition, rarity, and demand.

Market Regime

Selective Strength

Liquidity View

High in blue-chip names; mixed in thinly traded and weakly documented works

Confidence

Medium-High for tracked artists with auction depth; lower for thinly traded names

YTD

+20.9%

Base 100 in 2015 · 57 constituents · liquidity-weighted, chain-linked

HIAI Performance

Price appreciation index. Base 100 in 2015.

HIAI index

Each annual link is the liquidity-weighted median year-over-year change in constituents' median price-per-cm², chained and rebased so 2015 = 100.

HIAI is a chain-linked return index weighted by trailing auction activity, rebased so 2015 = 100. Artists with thin recent auction records carry minimal weight.

The line ends at 2025, the last complete year. 2026 is in progress (YTD, partial, n=27) and is held off the line until the year closes.

Own work by a tracked artist?

Run a collector-grade valuation using Hacoco's comparable evidence model.

Run valuation

Composition

57 artists

Index composition reflects tracked market evidence and may evolve as liquidity, auction depth, and artist relevance change over time.

Artist	Tier	Weight	Lots	Liquidity
Ram Kumar	Blue Chip	5.0%	308	A+
Krishen Khanna	Blue Chip	5.0%	258	A+
V. S. Gaitonde	Blue Chip	4.6%	194	A+
B. Prabha	Blue Chip	4.6%	284	A+
A. Ramachandran	Established	4.6%	173	A
M. F. Husain	Blue Chip	4.3%	342	A+
F. N. Souza	Blue Chip	4.0%	313	A+
K. H. Ara	Blue Chip	3.5%	114	A+
Jamini Roy	Blue Chip	3.5%	232	A+
S. H. Raza	Blue Chip	3.4%	129	A+
K. G. Subramanyan	Blue Chip	3.4%	174	A+
Jogen Chowdhury	Blue Chip	3.4%	118	A+
Anish Kapoor	Blue Chip	3.1%	204	A+
Paresh Maity	Blue Chip	2.9%	95	A+
Akbar Padamsee	Blue Chip	2.8%	120	A+
Anjolie Ela Menon	Established	2.6%	131	A
Bikash Bhattacharjee	Blue Chip	2.5%	76	A+
Manjit Bawa	Blue Chip	2.5%	59	A+
Ganesh Pyne	Blue Chip	2.4%	97	A+
Amrita Sher-Gil	Blue Chip	2.3%	40	A+
Laxma Goud	Established	2.3%	85	A
K. K. Hebbar	Blue Chip	2.2%	50	A+
Manu Parekh	Established	2.2%	68	A
Tyeb Mehta	Blue Chip	2.1%	51	A+
Paritosh Sen	Blue Chip	2.0%	103	A+
Satish Gujral	Blue Chip	2.0%	56	A+
Anju Dodiya	Blue Chip	2.0%	81	A+
Sakti Burman	Blue Chip	2.0%	89	A+
Laxman Pai	Blue Chip	1.9%	42	A+
Shyamal Dutta Ray	Blue Chip	1.8%	52	A+
Sohan Qadri	Established	1.7%	45	A
Paramjit Singh	Established	1.7%	64	A
Shanti Dave	Established	1.7%	54	A
Sailoz Mookherjea	Blue Chip	1.5%	35	A+
Nandalal Bose	Blue Chip	1.3%	32	A+
Arpana Caur	Established	1.3%	25	A
Jehangir Sabavala	Blue Chip	—	46	A+
Bhupen Khakhar	Blue Chip	—	61	A+
Arpita Singh	Blue Chip	—	31	A+
Subodh Gupta	Blue Chip	—	18	A+
Rameshwar Broota	Blue Chip	—	28	A+
Rabindranath Tagore	Blue Chip	—	24	A+
Nasreen Mohamedi	Blue Chip	—	15	A+
T. V. Santosh	Established	—	43	A
Avinash Chandra	Established	—	79	A
Prabhakar Barwe	Established	—	17	A
Akkitham Narayanan	Established	—	76	A
Badri Narayan	Thinly Traded	—	63	B
Ganesh Haloi	Established	—	36	A
Biren De	Blue Chip	—	27	A+
Jitish Kallat	Established	—	24	A
Zarina Hashmi	Blue Chip	—	19	A+
Bimal Dasgupta	Thinly Traded	—	30	B
Somnath Hore	Established	—	37	A
Lalu Prasad Shaw	Thinly Traded	—	35	B
Sunil Das	Established	—	29	A
Thota Vaikuntam	Blue Chip	—	18	A+

Liquidity grade

A+Very high transaction depthAStrong transaction depthBLimited but usable evidenceCThin or watchlist evidence

Index composition, artist breakdown

Available on Collector, ₹2,999/year and above

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Planning to sell?

Hacoco can help position, price, and privately place important Indian artworks.

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Market Commentary

September 2026

The Indian art market sustained its constructive momentum through September 2026, as reflected in a median one-year return of 17.7% among index-eligible artists. With 14 out of 21 tracked names delivering positive one-year returns, investor appetite has remained resilient, helping to nudge auction turnover for the trailing twelve months to ₹1,436.6 crore, despite a moderately selective undercurrent in bidding activity.

Within the blue-chip and established artist segment, liquidity and demand continued to outperform broader market averages, buoyed by institutional and seasoned collector participation. Price appreciation in this cohort has maintained consistency, reinforcing perceptions of art as a reliable store of value, especially amidst a shifting macroeconomic landscape and recalibrated expectations for alternative investments.

The emerging and mid-career segment signaled nuanced strength, underpinned by heightened interest from new entrants seeking differentiated narratives and long-term growth potential. While performance dispersion remains evident—seven artists posted negative one-year returns—selectivity has become more pronounced, with the market rewarding those with robust critical engagement and institutional support.

Collectors remain acutely focused on provenance, exhibition histories, and alignment with global aesthetic dialogues, reflecting an increasingly research-driven approach. Thematic trends around identity, environmental narratives, and post-pandemic social transformation continue to shape acquisition decisions, as buyers demonstrate willingness to pay premiums for distinctive perspectives and historically significant bodies of work.

Looking ahead, we expect the market’s positive momentum to persist, albeit with measured optimism. Stable turnout across six active auction houses and the sector’s growing breadth—spanning 94 tracked artists—suggest a healthy ecosystem. However, positioning into the next quarter will require a clear-eyed focus on quality and a nuanced understanding of which artists and themes are best poised to capture both financial and curatorial attention.

Hacoco Market Intelligence · Updated September 2026

Market List

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A private note for collectors, sellers, advisors, and family offices.

Previous Notes

HIAI and related market commentary are informational and directional in nature. They do not constitute investment advice, an offer to buy or sell, or a guarantee of future performance. Art is illiquid, quality-sensitive, and subject to market, provenance, condition, and demand risk.

HacocoValuation Intelligence

Market Intelligence

The Indian Art Market, in One Number.

HIAI is Hacoco's directional benchmark for the Indian secondary art market, built from normalized auction evidence across 57 tracked artists.

200

Index 2025

Last updated September 2026

+20.9%

1Y Return

+39.9%

3Y Return

+61.9%

5Y Return

About HIAI

Market Regime

Selective Strength

Liquidity View

High in blue-chip names; mixed in thinly traded and weakly documented works

Confidence

Medium-High for tracked artists with auction depth; lower for thinly traded names

YTD

+20.9%

Base 100 in 2015 · 57 constituents · liquidity-weighted, chain-linked

HIAI Performance

Price appreciation index. Base 100 in 2015.

HIAI index

Each annual link is the liquidity-weighted median year-over-year change in constituents' median price-per-cm², chained and rebased so 2015 = 100.

HIAI is a chain-linked return index weighted by trailing auction activity, rebased so 2015 = 100. Artists with thin recent auction records carry minimal weight.

The line ends at 2025, the last complete year. 2026 is in progress (YTD, partial, n=27) and is held off the line until the year closes.

Own work by a tracked artist?

Run a collector-grade valuation using Hacoco's comparable evidence model.

Run valuation

Composition

57 artists

Index composition reflects tracked market evidence and may evolve as liquidity, auction depth, and artist relevance change over time.

Artist	Tier	Weight	Lots	Liquidity
Ram Kumar	Blue Chip	5.0%	308	A+
Krishen Khanna	Blue Chip	5.0%	258	A+
V. S. Gaitonde	Blue Chip	4.6%	194	A+
B. Prabha	Blue Chip	4.6%	284	A+
A. Ramachandran	Established	4.6%	173	A
M. F. Husain	Blue Chip	4.3%	342	A+
F. N. Souza	Blue Chip	4.0%	313	A+
K. H. Ara	Blue Chip	3.5%	114	A+
Jamini Roy	Blue Chip	3.5%	232	A+
S. H. Raza	Blue Chip	3.4%	129	A+
K. G. Subramanyan	Blue Chip	3.4%	174	A+
Jogen Chowdhury	Blue Chip	3.4%	118	A+
Anish Kapoor	Blue Chip	3.1%	204	A+
Paresh Maity	Blue Chip	2.9%	95	A+
Akbar Padamsee	Blue Chip	2.8%	120	A+
Anjolie Ela Menon	Established	2.6%	131	A
Bikash Bhattacharjee	Blue Chip	2.5%	76	A+
Manjit Bawa	Blue Chip	2.5%	59	A+
Ganesh Pyne	Blue Chip	2.4%	97	A+
Amrita Sher-Gil	Blue Chip	2.3%	40	A+
Laxma Goud	Established	2.3%	85	A
K. K. Hebbar	Blue Chip	2.2%	50	A+
Manu Parekh	Established	2.2%	68	A
Tyeb Mehta	Blue Chip	2.1%	51	A+
Paritosh Sen	Blue Chip	2.0%	103	A+
Satish Gujral	Blue Chip	2.0%	56	A+
Anju Dodiya	Blue Chip	2.0%	81	A+
Sakti Burman	Blue Chip	2.0%	89	A+
Laxman Pai	Blue Chip	1.9%	42	A+
Shyamal Dutta Ray	Blue Chip	1.8%	52	A+
Sohan Qadri	Established	1.7%	45	A
Paramjit Singh	Established	1.7%	64	A
Shanti Dave	Established	1.7%	54	A
Sailoz Mookherjea	Blue Chip	1.5%	35	A+
Nandalal Bose	Blue Chip	1.3%	32	A+
Arpana Caur	Established	1.3%	25	A
Jehangir Sabavala	Blue Chip	—	46	A+
Bhupen Khakhar	Blue Chip	—	61	A+
Arpita Singh	Blue Chip	—	31	A+
Subodh Gupta	Blue Chip	—	18	A+
Rameshwar Broota	Blue Chip	—	28	A+
Rabindranath Tagore	Blue Chip	—	24	A+
Nasreen Mohamedi	Blue Chip	—	15	A+
T. V. Santosh	Established	—	43	A
Avinash Chandra	Established	—	79	A
Prabhakar Barwe	Established	—	17	A
Akkitham Narayanan	Established	—	76	A
Badri Narayan	Thinly Traded	—	63	B
Ganesh Haloi	Established	—	36	A
Biren De	Blue Chip	—	27	A+
Jitish Kallat	Established	—	24	A
Zarina Hashmi	Blue Chip	—	19	A+
Bimal Dasgupta	Thinly Traded	—	30	B
Somnath Hore	Established	—	37	A
Lalu Prasad Shaw	Thinly Traded	—	35	B
Sunil Das	Established	—	29	A
Thota Vaikuntam	Blue Chip	—	18	A+

Liquidity grade

A+Very high transaction depthAStrong transaction depthBLimited but usable evidenceCThin or watchlist evidence

Index composition, artist breakdown

Available on Collector, ₹2,999/year and above

Upgrade plan

Planning to sell?

Hacoco can help position, price, and privately place important Indian artworks.

Request advisory

Market Commentary

September 2026

Hacoco Market Intelligence · Updated September 2026

Market List

Receive the monthly Indian Art Market Note

A private note for collectors, sellers, advisors, and family offices.

Previous Notes