In the wealthy heart of the Indian capital, the showroom for Bentley cars stands empty.
But appearances can be deceptive. Demand is so great that every model has been pre-sold months in advance.
It is a potent symbol of how a decade of economic reforms has generated wealth in India, but also of the growing divide between the haves and have nots in the world's second-most populous nation. Hundreds of millions remain mired in poverty.
"India is a growing market. People are starved of good cars and there are customers who want status symbols," said sales manager Rahul Grover. The price of that status doesn't come cheap -- about US$460,000 for the basic-spec top-of-the-line model.
Selling out
Since opening its first showroom last October, the marque has sold 10 cars and expects to sell double that number in a year.
A decade ago there were no Bentleys, nor many of the other makes of cars that now battle it out in a fiercely competitive market.
Showrooms are filled with the latest South Korean, Japanese and European makes and buyers have access to cheap, easy credit for near-instant delivery. Ten years ago, buyers were limited to three makes, the venerable Ambassador, or Morris Oxford, Maruti Suzuki and the Fiat Premier and had to wait weeks.
In 1994, there were no mobile phones nor many of the electronic goods urban, middle-class Indians now take for granted. Western-style malls complete with Western-branded shops were non-existent.
All that has changed. A decade of rapid economic growth has revolutionized parts of India, throwing open its companies to global competition, creating thriving IT, pharmaceutical and tourism industries and placing it on a footing to compete with China.
Annual average gross domestic product growth between 1992 and 1997 averaged 6.7 percent. During the period from 1997 to 2002, it was 5.5 percent.
Inflation has fallen from 12.8 percent in 1994 to 1995 to 4.26 percent now, while foreign exchange reserves have grown from US$25.17 billion in 1994/95 to $118.49 billion in April this year.
For hundreds of millions of urban Indians, rising incomes and cheap loans have fueled a boom in consumer goods and property, drawing in foreign companies and investment. Reinvestment by millions of Indians abroad has also driven change.
But for the majority of Indians who live in the countryside, the boom of the past decade has largely passed them by. Farmers still regard regular electricity, clean water, and access to good education and health care as luxuries.
It was rural anger at not being able to share the spoils of a booming economy that cost former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee his job this week after a shock election defeat.
Now the Congress party, which began overhauling the economy just over a decade ago, has been swept back to power.
Reforms needed
Analysts say reforms are here to stay and will play a crucial role in alleviating poverty and realizing India's potential as a leading global economy. Congress faces the challenge of putting a human face on them, to distribute the wealth more equally.
In the dusty village of Badauli about 70km southeast of Delhi, farmer Santram is living proof of the other India, where the past decade has brought little change.
Badauli, not far from Delhi's industrial parks and malls, has intermittent electricity, mud earth houses and a road, though built only about four years ago, that is already falling apart.
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