So far, the list of foreign magazines seeking open-minded Indian models includes Vogue, Conde Nast, Harper's Bazaar, Maxim, Hello, Rolling Stone, People, Housekeeping and Marie Claire.
Former Miss India winner Gul Panag recently posed in revealing black lingerie on the cover of the men's magazine Maxim. She follows in the scantily clad footsteps of sub-continental starlets such as Neha Dhupia, Amrita Arora, Deepika Padukone, Shreya Saran, Minissha Lamba, Mallika Sherawat, Amisha Patel, Shilpa Shetty and Soha Ali Khan.
Thanks to a surge in middle-income consumers, magazines featuring newly available luxury goods - from electronic gadgets to vacation homes and cosmetics and perfumes - have found a thriving market.
One magazine looking to create a wave is Vogue India. The stylish women's monthly arrived in India with much fanfare and immediately began featuring Indian beauties. The magazine is endorsed by top actress Aishwarya Rai.
Today, Vogue India retails at more than 5,500 outlets, with high sales in metropolitan centers Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
To cater to international readership, Vogue India is also sold in New York, London, Paris, Milan and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The latest edition has Victoria Beckham, a former Spice Girl and wife of football star David Beckham, in a sari.
Media observers say that Vogue India has broken the usual low-cost, low-impact rules of magazine marketing by investing in splashy billboards and eye-catching point-of-sale displays.
Aishwarya Rai once famously refused to play a "Bond girl", in the iconic James Bond film series, as she was uncomfortable kissing actor Pierce Brosnan. Today, the rules have changed and Rai and many other famous actresses have locked lips on film.
Such progressive trends have unleashed varied interpretations of India's social sensibilities, sexuality and moral identity.
In conservative India, women still struggling for equality at all levels of society. In this regard, Bollywood has been a major benchmark for Indian culture. No other art form has exhibited the same capacity to shape and express the changing landscape of modern India.
It is unclear whether the new trend of racy, glamorous magazines eager to feature
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