The HBA market in India today

The annual spend on Health the Beauty care has been growing YOY at the rate 27% (twice as fast as Europe and US) The organized retail Health & Beauty care market is a phenomenal INR. 30,000 crores (US$ 6 billion)
Out of which the beauty segment is INR 14,000 crores (US$2.9 billion)
This has prompted some of the large business houses in India to take notice and in the recent past has lead to the mushrooming of “New Age Health Stores” which see the concept of total health- from branded medicines, diagnostic kits, energy drinks, herbal products to shampoos and baby lotions. There are expected to be close to a thousand such stores across the urban landscape in the near future.

With the beauty market projected to grow fourfold, to 60 million women by 2005, the stage looks set for the battle amongst the big players from the International Arena to take a serious look at India as a future beauty market.

Unilever PLC subsidiary Hindustan Lever Ltd. Is launching 50 new beauty products every year.

New arrivals, such as L’Oreal, which has spent US$ 30 million on local manufacturing since 1994, have branched out from shampoos to cosmetics.

Though mass brands continue to dominate sales within an extremely price-conscious domestic population. With price cuts, value-added introductions, small consumer packs, increased rural penetration and changes in consumer behavior being the key growth drivers, premium brands continued to make good progress within the niche consumer group including the affluent and highly mobile.

The Indian cosmetics and toiletries market is shared amongst a large number of manufacturers. The top five cosmetics and toiletries companies in order of ranking were Hindustan Lever, Colgate- Palmolive, Nirma, Godrej Consumer Products and Dabur India. Whilst the leading player, Hindustan Lever, With its large portfolio of brands and products accounted for an estimated 41% of total value sales, the rest of the players each had no more than an 8.5% value share. 

From a distribution point of view, the grocery channel account for a 56% value share of total cosmetics and toiletries sales. With the continued popularity of mass brands, the channel commands a substantial share in the distribution of products such as bath and shower, hair care, depilatories, men’s grooming and oral hygiene. In oral hygiene especially, grocery stores accounted for a whopping 74%, share of value sales in 2002, up from 62% in 1997. 

Department stores and direct sellers also gained importance over the review period, At the expense of pharmacy/drugstores. The bulk of departmental store sales are derived chiefly from fragrances, deodorants, skin care, color cosmetics and sun care products.