After much research, I went to a Zara outlet, tried on some of their colognes and finally picked one of their best selling fragrance - I understand why.
I quite liked Montblanc Explorer but had finished the bottle a few months ago and am currently using Ferragamo Intense Leather, which is nice in its own right but nothing like the crisp woody fragrance of the former.
No fragrance really beats the Delhi heat so I was sceptical about spending 4-5k on Explorer and that's when I came across Zara's line up of colognes. I quickly learnt that these fragrances are not known to last very long but at that price point I was okay with that.
I tried out Bogoss Vibrant Leather and Sunrise on the red sand dunes. BVL was a lot more fruitier than I expected it to be, almost caused me a headache. And SOTRSD was quite a disappointment, barely stayed on me for 2 hours before it became a skin scent, and frankly I didn't like the fragrance, too soapy and weak.
Vibrant Leather had a brighter opening than explorer - the latter is much smoother overall as a fragrance but once it settles, the fragrance really kicks in. The bergamot and lemon start strong but when the wood notes come in is when the cologne truly shines. I don't really smell the leather in there as much as in Explorer but that's fine.
It stayed on me for about 4-5 hours, which is more than I expected it to last in Delhi's heat.
Honestly for 2k I think this is a great alternative as you can practically shower in this and not feel guilty about spending a bomb on a cologne. The way I see it, you anyway need to reapply, whether a designer frag or entry level scents, might as well be the latter.