Indian Perfume Bussiness

India has been a land of olfactory indulgence — this is where ittar, incense and aromatherapy have existed for thousands of years, and personal perfumes are part of the ancient royal lore.

BCCL

Despite India’s aromatic heritage, developing a fragrance for retail is a complex, long-drawn and expensive process, requiring an expert creative director at the helm

By Aekta Kapoor

How does one capture the scent of India? Is it just the heady note of jasmine or rose, or could it be a whiff of masala tea and the spicy aroma of black pepper? What does a city smell like, and how different is the smell of Delhi from Goa? How does one capture memories in a bottle? These are the preoccupations of a new breed of Indian perfumers, who are breaking stereotypes and trying to raise the bar for indian fragrance. They are in uncharted territory.

On the one hand, India has been a land of olfactory indulgence — this is where ittar, incense and aromatherapy have existed for thousands of years, and personal perfumes are part of ancient royal lor

e. On the other hand, there is virtually no modern Indian perfume that could stand on its own against the sophisticated, marketing-driven, branded perfume industry in the West, notably Europe.

A few years ago, some Indians decided to do something about it.

One of them is Mannan. Brought up in a family that supplied to perfumeries in the West, he had picked up the intricacies of the industry while growing up. In 2012, he founded a startup in Grasse— the heart of French perfumery — to supply fragrance ingredients to perfume houses across Europe. But he wanted to do more. “I wanted to build a brand that pays homage to the beautiful Indian naturals that have been used in perfumery for generations now, but are not quite given their due,” says the 30-year-old. “There was no homegrown, contemporary, luxury fragrance range that would appeal to the millennial consumer.”

In 2016, he launched Bomabay Perfumery which offers a range of eight scents priced at Rs 3,900-4,100 (100 ml, eau de parfum), with names such as Calicut or Madurai Talkies. Made in Grasse by a team of international perfumers — Jacques Chabert (the creator of Guerlain’s Samsara and Chanel’s Crystal), Alexandra Carlin (who created perfumes for Givenchy, Victoria’s Secret and Ferrari, among others) and Pierre Kurzunne — the perfumes are bottled in India and target the Indian millennial by using local references in both product development and branding.

The label retails from 15 multibrand boutiques in India besides its own online store. Gandhi, who lives in Mumbai and Grasse, is practical about the footprint of Indian-made fragrances in the country, which he says is about a tenth of the overall Indian luxury Business. A 2016 Euromonitor International survey pegged the Indian fragrance market at Rs 1,800 crore, which is expected to touch Rs 3,300 crore by 2020. “But this space is dominated by deodorant brands or the cheaper, mass-market products,” says Gandhi, who is cautiously optimistic about the potential for niche fragrance brands such as his to compete with established global players in metros and urban centres.