India’s largest commercial art event, the India Art Fair (IAF), held annually in New Delhi, will expand to Mumbai in 2025. The new event, titled the India Art Fair Contemporary (IAFC). It will focus on contemporary art and design. The inaugural edition of IAFC is scheduled to be held at Jio World Garden from 13 to 16 November 2025, coinciding with the existing Art Mumbai fair.
Established in 2008 and fully owned by trade fair organiser Angus Montgomery Arts since 2019, the IAF will celebrate its 16th edition in February next year. The New Delhi fair showcases a wide range of art, from the late 19th century to the present day. However, the IAFC in Mumbai will exclusively present contemporary art created after 1970, alongside a dedicated design section.
This focus follows the successful introduction of a design component at the 2024 New Delhi event, which received an “enthusiastic response”, according to Jaya Asokan, the fair’s director. Asokan, who will also head the Mumbai event, remarked on the decision to expand, noting the fair had been “waiting for the right moment” to enter India’s financial capital, reported the Art Newspaper.
Speculation regarding IAF’s expansion to Mumbai has been circulating for several years, predating the fair’s consistent engagement with the city’s art scene, including its sponsorship of a talks programme during the annual Mumbai Gallery Weekend. Despite the prolonged anticipation, 2025 marks the first official foray into the Mumbai market.
The decision to launch IAFC comes after the introduction of Art Mumbai, the city’s first major art fair, which debuted in 2023 with 45 exhibitors, including renowned Indian galleries such as Vadehra Art Gallery and Chatterjee & Lal. The second edition of Art Mumbai will take place in November 2024 at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse. Notably, the IAFC dates in 2025 will directly overlap with the third edition of Art Mumbai, sparking curiosity about the interaction between the two fairs.
Asokan envisions a “collegiate” and “collaborative” relationship between the two events, emphasising that IAF intentionally chose the same dates “to not split attention”. She believes this will help shape a significant market moment for Mumbai, with the two fairs, alongside city-wide exhibitions and events, contributing to a vibrant art week. Asokan also highlighted the distinct focus of each fair, with IAFC’s emphasis on contemporary art and design likely to attract different participants, particularly those who may not consider Art Mumbai.
Despite this, there is expected to be some overlap between exhibitors, including prominent Indian galleries. Asokan expressed openness to future collaborations with Art Mumbai, although such sentiments have not been equally reciprocated by Art Mumbai’s co-founders, Dinesh and Minal Vazirani. They have questioned the logic of hosting both events simultaneously, with Dinesh Vazirani expressing concerns that galleries may be “overstretched” due to the concurrent fairs, which will be held over 10 km apart. The Vaziranis have indicated that their focus is on managing their own event, leaving little scope for immediate collaboration.
However, both parties agree that IAFC’s launch is a positive indicator of the strength of Mumbai’s collector base and the broader South Asian modern and contemporary art market, which, according to Asokan, has grown by “around 250% in the past decade”. She also highlighted that several leading Indian galleries, such as Nature Morte and Experimenter, have recently opened branches in Mumbai, enhancing the city’s status as a key hub in the art market.
The inaugural IAFC will offer more avant-garde and “ultra-contemporary” works than its New Delhi counterpart, with a strong international presence, showcasing artists rarely seen in India. Additionally, the fair will feature a special curatorial focus on artists and designers from South Asia, Africa, and South America, drawing on Mumbai’s historical significance as a port city.