As a child, Vidushi Somani would turn her building into an art gallery. She and her friends would organise little exhibitions, inviting neighbours to buy their creations. Years later, the 38-year-old investor finds herself on the other side of the transaction, struggling to find buyers for the artworks she has collected over the years.

Somani’s interest in art grew as she visited galleries and discovered artists beyond the names she had grown up recognising. But living in Mumbai — where wall space is a luxury — meant that her collection eventually outgrew her home. Paintings found themselves stored in her office or tucked under the bed. Selling them, she discovered, was harder than buying them.