Tyeb Mehta's 'Rickshaw Puller' (2002) sold for ₹69.1 crore at the inaugural auction of Volte Una on Monday, setting a world auction record for the artist, as reported by The Tribune, Hindustan Times, Deccan Chronicle/PTI, Times of India and Financial Express.

The acrylic on canvas, painted in the final decade of Mehta's career, depicts a figure he returned to repeatedly in his later works.

The sale surpasses his previous record of ₹61.80 crore, achieved by 'Trussed Bull' in April 2025, and ranks as the fourth-highest price paid for an Indian artwork at auction in rupee terms. The buyer's identity has not been disclosed.

The surprise is not only the number but the venue: Volte Una is a brand-new platform that launched with this sale, built around an unusual single-lot format rather than a traditional multi-lot catalogue.

According to the Financial Express, the painting attracted multiple bidders in the final minutes before the auction closed, a dramatic finish for a first-ever sale.

Hindustan Times quotes auctioneer Tushar Jiwarajka saying 'Wealthy Indians are finally realising that art is a serious asset class, and store of value,' framing the record as evidence of what Indian modernism is worth when a museum-grade work meets serious buyers.

According to Hindustan Times, bidding opened at ₹33 crore on October 11 for a 12-hour window, with the final sum including a buyer's premium of 15%. Jiwarajka showed the work privately to collectors in Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Dubai and London before bidding opened.

Caleidoscope reports that Volte Una, operated by Volte Arts DWC LLC in Dubai, conducts auctions for registered, vetted bidders by telephone and online, without a physical saleroom.

Founder Tushar Jiwarajka said the platform 'exposed it to the most serious and discreet collectors globally in private settings,' and that its model significantly reduces the traditional buyer's premium, returning value to consignors and bidders.

The rickshaw puller is one of Mehta's recurring subjects: Hindustan Times notes the earliest version dates to 1961, a monochromatic work sold at a Christie's sale in 2004, and the figure, colours and use of canvas space changed across the decades.

Art critic Uma Nair told Hindustan Times the solitary figure was 'a symbol of labour as well as alienation,' and that Mehta believed human struggle deserved to be at the core of his practice.

Poet Nissim Ezekiel, writing of the 1961 work, called the rickshaw 'a sign of bondage' and the puller 'naked Man, staring into meaningless space.'

The record lands amid steep climbs for Indian modernists. According to the Financial Express, M.F.

Husain's 'Untitled (Gram Yatra)' sold for about ₹119 crore at Christie's in March 2025, V.S. Gaitonde's 'Untitled' fetched ₹67.08 crore in September 2025, and Amrita Sher-Gil's 'The Story Teller' went for ₹61.8 crore in September 2023.

Hindustan Times adds that earlier this year an 1890s Raja Ravi Varma, 'Yashoda and Krishna', sold for ₹167.2 crore, and last March an MF Husain from 1954 fetched ₹118 crore at Christie's.

Mehta's own trajectory has been striking: 'Celebration' sold for ₹2.19 crore in the late 1990s, followed by 'Mahishasura' at ₹10.9 crore.

Volte Una's next auction is scheduled for the end of November 2026 and will feature a work by M.F. Husain from the renowned Herwitz Collection, according to multiple outlets including The Tribune and Deccan Chronicle.

Caleidoscope reports the platform is also accepting applications from owners interested in consigning significant works of Indian art, and cautions that one sale alone does not establish whether the single-lot approach will become a sustained alternative to conventional auctions.

Still, the inaugural result gives the format an early benchmark at the top of the market, and the record reinforces continuing demand for works by India's post-Independence modern masters.