IIMA-AuraArt Indian Art Index hits a historic high

Tracking art auction data

• The IAIAI hit an all-time high in 3rd quarter of calendar year 2022 (Q3 of 2022) when it mounted a new peak at 3,576

• Pertinent to note here that the last peak of 3,390, was achieved in Q4 of 2006

• After hitting the new high, the IAIAI corrected to 2,630 in Q4 of 2022

Mumbai: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), a premier global management institute, developed the IIMA-AuraArt Indian Art Index (IAIAI) in collaboration with Mumbai-based Aura Art Development Ltd (Aura Art), an art infrastructure solutions provider and specialist in art transactions.

The first batch of data included auction results of nearly 9,000 artworks by Indian artists, auctioned across 11 houses around the world, over a more than 20-year period, from April 1, 2001 to June 30, 2022.

IIMA shared the first bi-annual update of the IAIAI, comprising of two quarterly observations. Interestingly, the IAIAI hit an all-time high in third quarter of calendar year 2022 (Q3 of 2022) when it mounted a new peak at 3,576. Pertinent to note here that the last peak of 3,390, was achieved in Q4 of 2006 (20064). As can be observed, after hitting the new high, the IAIAI corrected to 2,630 in Q4 of 2022 (20224).

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Prof Prashant Das, Faculty Member, Finance and Accounting, IIMA observed "We are excited to note that the very first observation of the IAIAI, after the Index was developed and published vide the White Paper of August 15, 2022, has created a historic high."

In the words of Rishiraj Sethi, Director, Aura Art Development "As the term in physics 'Observer Effect' suggests, the very act of observation causes changes when any phenomenon is being observed. This seems to be true for the IAIAI as well, since the very act of developing the IAIAI seems to have taken the Indian art market to newer heights."

The IAIAI was launched at a well attended and covered event on November 24, 2022, at BSE international convention hall. Do refer to discussion on the ‘commentary on early IAIAI trends’ section of the IAIAI white paper, to understand the past trends. Also, as indicated in the paper, one limitation of the hedonic method is that one must retrospectively update the past index values with the arrival of new data. Accordingly, the past peak value of 3,358 (Q4 of 2006) has been updated to 3,390.