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Tata Group plans to return to beauty market after 23 years

Tata Group had once established Lakme, the first Indian beauty and cosmetics brand, but sold it to HUL. Now the company is trying to retake the market by developing in-house cosmetic and beauty products under Trent.

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By CNBCTV18.com December 15, 2021, 4:05:52 PM IST (Published)

Tata Group plans to return to beauty market after 23 years
The Tata Group is looking to re-establish itself in the Indian beauty market, nearly 23 years after it had exited the segment. The cosmetics and beauty market in India stood at over $11 billion earlier in the year and with a 15-20 percent growth in retail sales across the country, it is expected to be worth $20 billion in 2025.


Footwear, underwear and beauty products are now going to be "a key focus for us" said Noel Tata, non-executive chairman of Trent Ltd., the retail hand of the Tata Group. "Extended product line and experimentation with formats for these products are in the offing as we see these as growth areas in retail," he told Bloomberg in an interview.

Startups like Nykaa, Purplle, Zyloon and more have rocked the cosmetics industry taking advantage of growing disposable incomes and a youth market more discerning for global products. Nykaa, which is now worth $13 billion, partly owes its success in bringing global cosmetic and beauty products to Indian customers. Now Tata seeks to grab a share of that pie once more.

Simone Tata, who is Noel's mother, had created Lakme in 1953 as the country's first beauty and cosmetics brand. The conglomerate sold the brand, which was named after the French name for the goddess Lakshmi, to Hindustan Unilever in 1998. Tata had re-entered the segment in 2014, six years after their non-compete with HUL had expired. The company now plans to unveil a new-line of in-house cosmetics and beauty products under Trent. These products will then be sold through existing channels like Westside retail stores and Tata Cliq.

"I feel that we have barely scratched the surface in these categories and a significant part of these markets are still unorganized and a shift to organized retail is bound to happen. We are also seeing a shift in consumer behavior preferring more fashionable products in these categories," Tata said.
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