India Art Summit 2009 was a success!

An art fair held in Delhi at the end of last week was, by any measure, a success. The organisers of the India Art Summit logged a total of just over 40,000 visitors and said that sales totalled Rs260m ($5.4m, £3.3m). Sceptics have inevitably queried the figures, but the visitors’ seem genuine because they were based on a count at the entrance gates.

The sales figures are less reliable because they are based on what the galleries told the organisers, and no doubt include potential sales and a bit of optimism – negotiations are still in progress on many works around Delhi . One contact has suggested the figures may also have been under-stated because of large cash payments that are likely to have been made.

But whatever the eventual sales, there was enough buying activity to indicate that the market for Indian modern art – and maybe contemporary art too – has bottomed out in the past two months and that serious collectors are now buying at prices that are often 30%-40% below the peak levels last year, and sometimes far more.