Art is the newest investment avenue thronging with Gujaratis. Art galleries in the city wanting to cash in on the trend have borrowed a sale strategy from the canvas of the masters who market white goods — equated monthly instalments (EMI), without interest.
This means a person with average income can finally aspire to possess an original of artists like MF Husain, Akbar Padamsee and SH Raza without having to lose lakhs from savings at one go.
“We are allowing buyers to pay in instalments. The EMI will depend on the salary and the paying capacity of the buyer,” said Dhanvi Shah of Marvel Art Gallery.
Though the gallery will ask for guarantors and legal documents, it will not charge any interest for the deferred payment.
The instalment period will range from three to six months, and the minimum payable amount to avail the instalment facility will be Rs10,000.
More than a hundred paintings will be available under the scheme. And works to be sold through the scheme include those by stalwarts like Husain, Raza, Haku Shah, Vrundavan Solanki, Shanti Dave, and Padamsee. Artworks of young and talented artists like Manoj Kachangal, Bansi Khatri, Harshil Patel and Prexa Kapadia can also be bought on EMI.
Appreciating the initiative of the art galleries, Bharti Verma of Anayas Art Gallery, said, “There are people who want to buy rare art pieces but cannot afford them. If an art gallery comes up with instalment scheme, nothing better than that. After weighing all the pros and cons, I may also introduce the scheme at my gallery.”
Khanjan Dalal of Lemongrasshopper Art Gallery, said, “Though selling art pieces by providing the EMI facility is a new phenomenon in India, it is an old concept in the West. This is indeed good news for the connoisseurs of art. They can now buy a painting which was beyond their reach till yesterday.”
