Gaurav Bhatia

Gaurav began his career as an ad man spending a decade on Madison Avenue and now heads the South Asia operation of Sotheby's, the oldest, most prestigious auction house in the world. Responsible for setting up and developing a compelling growth strategy and sustaining the vitality of the South Asia business, he provides trusted advice and serves in a business development capacity to the company’s highest echelon of collectors. He has been the driving force behind the launch of Sotheby’s inaugural auction in India and contributed to an aggregate global South Asian sale of USD 30 MM in 2018 across U.S., U.K. and India markets.

Gaurav comes from strong luxury pedigree having worked with LVMH for a decade. As the first generation of luxury marketers in India he led the champagne category, making Moët & Chandon a market leader and launched Chandon, a sparkling wine targeting young Indian millennial. Prior to this, he spent a decade in Advertising in New York, servicing brands like Kraft, AT&T Kraft, Sony and AT&T among others. He also briefly consulted with Luxury Brands such as Four Seasons Hotels and local jewellery, fashion and lifestyle brands. His expertise lies in luxury marketing and high net worth and millennial acquisition opening new markets and creating new categories.

Named on the Power List of the Luxury industry, he serves on numerous industry and non-for-profit boards including the Confederation of Indian Industry for Art and Culture. An opinion leader in luxury and lifestyle, Gaurav has contributed extensively across media including The New York Times,

International Herald Tribune, CNN, Mint, Economic Times, Times of India, The Hindu, Forbes, Vogue and Architectural Digest among others. He lectures on how to build luxury brands and the ‘art of collecting’.