'India is being discussed a lot more at the group level today'

The popularity of e-commerce and social media in India has played a major role in stimulating demand for beauty products over the past decade, Alexis Perakis-Valat, president of the consumer products division at L’Oréal, said in an interview. This is helping the world’s largest beauty company attract more shoppers. Valat, who was in India last week, oversees a portfolio of brands for the French beauty company, including Garnier, L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, Nyx, Essie, and Mixa. Edited excerpts from the interview:

- Suneera Tandon

What changes are you seeing in India?

It’s fascinating to see the changes in the Indian beauty market. A decade ago, when I came to India, I was living in China then. The feeling was that the market was moving in a very traditional, very static direction where the distribution was static, and the brands were the same for years. In the last five years, the Indian mass beauty market has changed more than it has maybe in the last 100 years.