Recently, India's beauty products and brands have caught the attention of the world and attracted global capital.
In March this year, American luxury cosmetics maker Estee Lauder completely acquired indigenous ayurvedic company Forest Essentials. France's L'Oreal Group acquired majority stake in digital personal care brand Innovist in June and Unilever has made at least four investments in Indian beauty products through its venture capital arm in the last few years.
Single mother of two and entrepreneur Meera Kulkarni's 'Forest Essentials' has grown from a startup to a billion dollar company with global presence in the last two decades.
Its rise reflects the meteoric rise of the country's beauty industry, which was valued at around $23 billion (Rs 2.20 lakh crore) in 2025 but is expected to nearly double to $40 billion (Rs 3.83 lakh crore) by the end of the decade, growing at twice the rate of the country's GDP (gross domestic product) and retail market.
According to experts, the increasing spending power in Asia's third largest economy is one reason for this boom.
According to RedSeer (a business consulting firm), India's per capita income exceeded Rs 190,000 ($2,000) in 2019, a level beyond which non-essential spending begins to rise rapidly. And by 2030, about 155 million households are expected to have an annual income of more than Rs 9 lakh ($9,500), further driving growth.
Kushal Bhatnagar, partner at RedSeer, told the BBC: "Historically we have spent less on beauty products because there was simply no purchasing power for anything other than the very basics, such as all-purpose soap or face powder."
"But now, along with increased spending power, there has also been improvement in reach, distribution and product education. The Internet has broken down these barriers, allowing brands to reach consumers directly by leveraging the power of social media platforms and influencers."
In fact, according to RedSeer estimates, e-commerce is expected to account for about 35% of total spending on cosmetics by 2030, compared to only 8% five years ago.
The pandemic has proven to be a major game-changer for the industry, according to Vaishali Gupta, whose two beauty ventures have seen rapid expansion since launching during Covid.
She co-founded vegan skincare company Hyphen with Bollywood star Kriti Sanon in 2023 and also runs mCaffeine, which makes scrubs, washes and lotions and calls itself India's first caffeinated personal care brand.
According to Vaishali, "COVID inspired people to be introspective and take care of themselves, and it coincided with a massive wave of digital penetration across tier-one, tier-two and tier-three cities. Suddenly Indian consumers had access to beauty and skincare information they never had before – like what's trending in Korea or Europe, or which specific ingredients can help brighten skin or control acne."
"That knowledge led to the creation of a consumer who knew exactly what they wanted. And that's where the Indian skincare boom began."
Gupta's brands have grown 100% in total revenue over the past year and she expects even stronger growth going forward.
She says both Hyphen and McCaffin are now among the top 10 brands in their respective categories in India.
"This is a structural growth story, and we are just at the beginning of this market's potential," Gupta said.
So it's no surprise that many Bollywood stars - from Deepika Padukone to Katrina Kaif and Big Brother fame Shilpa Shetty - have adopted this trend and launched skincare companies in recent years.
The increase in the number of customers is coming from all corners of the country and is not limited to big cities only.
According to Gupta, another surprising thing is that Generation Z is leading the way, spending almost twice as much as Millennials on skincare and personal care.
Data from Walmart-backed Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce platform, confirms this. About 56% of its beauty and personal care products are Gen-Z, with 70% of those customers discovering beauty products through social media.
Two-thirds of searches related to beauty products on Flipkart also come from non-metropolitan areas.
According to RedSeer, the share of Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha in spending on cosmetics will increase from 32% in 2024 to nearly 50% by 2030.
According to Priyanka Bhargava, who leads Brand Strategy and Insight at Flipkart, this is an important turning point. He says that what was once just a 'wish' for the youth has now become a part of their daily self-care.
Going forward, as the market grows, consumer understanding is likely to evolve even further.
According to Kushal Bhatnagar of RedSeer, only a few individual brands have grown meaningfully so far, but given this pace of growth, at least 10-15 beauty companies will cross $200 million (Rs 19,000 crore) in revenue in the next three to five years.
