Tata's Trent to focus on beauty business, foresees growth in sector

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Dec 16, 2021

As India’s domestic beauty market is predicted to grow significantly in the next few years, Tata Group plans to focus on expanding its operations in the sector through its retail arm, Trent Limited.

India’s beauty industry is forecast to reach a value of $20 billion (Rs 1.33 lakh crore) by 2025, the Times of India reported. Tata is keen to tap into this significant growth opportunity after having exited the beauty space 23 years ago. 
 
“Extended product line and experimentation with formats for these products are in the offing as we see these as growth areas in real,” Noel Tata, non-executive chairman of Trent Limited, told the Times of India, in an interview about the business’ plans for the beauty market. 

Tata Group had been an early player in India’s beauty industry as Simone Tata helped to launch cosmetics brand Lakme in 1953 before the business sold it to Unilever Plc’s local business in 1998. Tata Group then stayed away from the beauty space for over a decade, due in part to the ‘non-compete’ clause in its sale of Lakme. 
 
Now, after small-scale operations in the sector since 2014, Tata is ready to focus on the beauty industry once again, along with footwear and inner-wear, according to Noel Tata.

Trent is considering launching in-house cosmetics brands as part of this initiative. The business already has its own chain of retail stores, Westside, in which it could retail the new cosmetics brands.