India's rich get the personal touch

One evening not too long ago, India's top fashion designers, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, invited 35 members of the country's moneyed class over for dinner at their home in a posh suburb of Mumbai. The affair was elegant and understated: The guests sipped a 1999 Dom Perignon as they were served home-cooked Goan fish curry and rice. "We are the present-day maharajahs -- in thought, at least -- so we reconnected with friends from all walks of life over a luxurious meal," says Khosla. The sumptuous repast was one of the eight organized by Moet Hennessey over the past year to give potential customers a taste of its wine and spirits in an exclusive setting. For Moet and other luxury purveyors, India is a land of enormous promise. Sure, two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion population lives in the hinterland with little access or means... [read full story]