The make-up reality: East India eyes it, faces it, nails it

Mumbai|New Delhi: East India accounted for over a third of all cosmetics sold in India in FY24, despite having less than a quarter of the country's households, with companies saying the region is a hotspot for most of its launches and product innovation. Global consumer researcher Kantar said in its latest report that more than 186 million pieces of cosmetics - including lipsticks, nail polish and eyeliners - were sold in the past year in top 10 Indian cities.

"Average makeup usage per person is higher in the east; women in the region like wearing makeup more than any other part of the country. For us, usage is significantly higher in the north too," said Samir K Modi, managing director, Modi Enterprises, which sells Colorbar brand. "Unlike other markets, where people tend to stick to fewer shades, the eastern region consumes a lot of different shades, even darker ones generally not sold much elsewhere."

Within cosmetics, lip products are the biggest, with 65 million units sold annually, generating close to Rs 1,700 crore revenue in FY24. Face and lip cosmetics together generate close to Rs 2,900 crore, or about 70% of industry value. While 47 million nail cosmetics are purchased annually, their relatively lower cost means they generate about Rs 350 crore. Eye products are the smallest colour cosmetic segment in the country by number of units - sold at 34 million.

"East is the biggest across all cosmetic sectors - lip, face, nail and eye - and south zone is the only market other than east that has a penetration of over 50% for the category," said K Ramakrishnan, managing director, South Asia, Worldpanel Division, Kantar.

Customers spent more than Rs 4,200 crore on these beauty products in the previous fiscal year, with more than a quarter of them buying online.



Penetration & Potential
"The sector has great potential with cosmetic brands pushing retail presence even in the smaller towns," he said.

"With a growing working population, and rising income levels, this is the best time for the sector to make a colourful splash," Ramakrishnan added.

About 28% of shoppers purchased cosmetics online, of those that buy fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) through this avenue. However, only 14% of such shoppers purchase nail products online, possibly because of the more fragile nature of the products, said Kantar.

Strength in eastern parts
Walmart-backed e-commerce major Flipkart said that it's traditionally much stronger in the east across categories, including cosmetics, where per-capita consumption in the segment is higher than the national average.

"In the east, the penetration itself would be higher, with more users, and then frequency would be higher too," said Manjari Singhal, head of business, FMCG and general merchandise, Flipkart.

"These two parameters would start playing a role in size of revenue being higher for geography. Also, geography wise, if you look at metros and east, there would be higher share of premium being sold," she added.

Earlier this year, L'Oreal SA and Shiseido - two of the world's largest cosmetics companies - had said that India is fast becoming one of their key growth drivers, helped by a burgeoning population and inclination toward beauty products.

India's beauty and personal care market will expand the fastest among comparable countries by size, with the compounded growth rate projected to be 10% between 2022 and 2027, which will take it to $30 billion, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants and Peak XV.

During this period, China's beauty and personal care market is estimated to increase by 7% while Indonesia's market is seen expanding 8%.

per capita spending
India, which is expected to account for nearly 5% of the global growth opportunity, has per capita spending of $14 in this category, lower than $38 in China and a fraction of the $313 in the United States.