Bajaj Herbals expects Rs 60 crore from hair care products in first year

Aims to enter European markets

Gujarat-based Bajaj Herbals, a manufacturer and exporter of herbal products, expects revenues worth Rs 60 crore from the domestic market in the first year of its launch of hair care products.

The $15 million company, which has a $10 million annual export turnover this fiscal, recently marked its foray into the Indian hair care industry with its hair oil brand — Veola and expanded its hair care product portfolio by adding Veola Hair Spa and Veola Henna Color.

Bajaj Herbals currently has 750 distributors for its hair care products, of which 82 are in Gujarat. "We aim to have 1000 dealers by March. Since we are based out of Gujarat it is vital for us to establish a strong foothold in this market. However, the north and north eastern parts of the country contribute 30 per cent to the hair oil In India, said Sanjay Bajaj, MD Bajaj Herbals, adding, "We expect a 10 per cent market share out of the 17 per cent hair oil market."

The company, which has a manufacturing facility in Changodhar, Ahmedabad is scouting land in North India for a facility and has plans of setting up a facility in Dubai next year. The Ahmedabad facility has a daily production capacity of 500-600 metric tonnes which produces 30,000-40,000 cartons per month. "The FMCG market in the Middle East is growing at a pace of 15 per cent and the company hardly saw a two or three per cent saturation even during the Dubai recession.

So we are planning to set up a plant in Dubai and also looking for land for setting up a plant in either Himachal or Uttaranchal at the same capacity as the Ahmedabad plant," said Gautam Bajaj, director, Bajaj Herbals. The company has offices in Sharjah FZE (United Arab Emirates) to cater to the markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and is also trying to enter the European markets, especially South Europe with its herbal products.

While Veola hair oils are available in five different variantsincluding amla, almond, olive, colour lock and coconut hair oils., the hair colour is available in four variants namely black, brown, burgundy and chestnut. The hair spas with four different therapies aim to suit individual's requirement for hair treatments at home.