Scent Story

HENA DESAI takes an aromatic journey through India’s fragrance business, and delves into how it’s slowly but steadily matching up to its global competition.

Speak of India and you’ll often hear it described as a sensorial country—it’s a melange of bright colours, diverse people and overwhelming aromas. While the colours and patterns have found global popularity, it’s the fragrances which have been left behind in the race. Few people know that the distillation process of ittar, an oil-derived natural perfume, was first mentioned in ancient Ayurvedic texts. The directions mentioned in them are still followed today for processing and manufacturing in many parts of the world. The soothing and wellness effect of pleasing aromas on the mind and body was recognised in such texts very early on in Indian history, which leaves us with one burning question: why has the Indian perfume industry not found its ground yet? The list of top players in the global perfume industry excludes Indians so far, but all that is changing now, and rapidly. Several players in the market have recognised this gap, and are working to create fine fragrance labels that are made in India.

At present, India’s fragrance industry is largely all about exporting native and exotic ingredients such as jasmine, sandalwood, rose, etc to international fragrance manufactures. Fragrance Expert and Creative Director, All Good Scents, Mr. Rajiv Sheth, explains, “In India, the fragrance industry is dominated by ingredients and industrial perfumery. In the aspirational fine perfume category, there were virtually no players.”