The Haute Beauty Boom

The world's biggest beauty houses are racing to make a splash in India, the next billion-dollar destination

- BY SAKSHI BATRA

PRADA BEAUTY, a unit of the Italian fashion giant that retails fragrances, and skincare and makeup products, has opened its first exclusive store in India. French luxury goods house LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has also launched its makeup line La Beauté, where a lipstick starts with a $160 price tag.

Chanel and La Mer too are in India with exclusive boutiques, as the world's most powerful beauty product makers seek to carve out a piece of India's luxury fashion market and tap the buying power of its consumers.

These moves go beyond product launches. They pack a lot of symbolic value. For global luxury brands, India represents more than a sales destination—it is an opportunity to shape aspirations and build cultural relevance in one of the world's youngest consumer markets.

Indeed, India is rapidly emerging as the next big prize for global beauty product retailers. Having become a $1 billion market by 2024, the country's luxury beauty industry is projected to rise fourfold to $4 billion by 2035, says a study by consultant Kearney and LUXASIA, a luxury beauty products distributor and retailer.

“The luxury beauty market in India has doubled in size over the last three years, expanding at a remarkable CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 24%. This makes it the fastest-growing luxury beauty market in Asia. A key driver of this growth is demographic change, alongside increasing purchasing power,” says Shreshta Jana, General Manager at L’Oréal Luxe India.