GCPL may foray into hair extension through Kinky

The South African brand was acquired by the Godrej firm in 2008 for $33 mn

In what can be considered as a plan by Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) to enter into the hair extension market, the firm is looking to introduce its African brand Kinky targeting aged customers.

“Kinky is a leader in South African market, where people normally have short hair. We have a plan to introduce Kinky in the Indian market targeting the aged customers, but GCPL haven’t set any timeline on this,” said A Mahendran, managing director of Godrej Consumer Products.

Kinky World of Hair, a supplier of human hair, synthetic wefted pieces, wigs, add on’s, hair extensions and hair braids in South Africa, was acquired by GCPL in 2008 for reportedly $33 million.

Godrej Consumer Products is already a leader in hair extension and hair care market in Africa after its acquisition of 51 per cent stake in pan-African hair care major Darling Group Holdings (DGH) for around Rs 500 crore in 2011. DGH has presence in 14 countries across the continent.

“Currently, we have acquired Darling firm in only three countries — South Africa, Mozambique and Nigeria. In the next one-and-a-half years, we will acquire stakes of DGH firms in other 11 African countries too,” said P Ganesh, executive vice president of finance, GCPL. “We are in the process of introducing these hair extension brands to other continents also.”

GCPL had plans to introduce some of its acquired products in the Indian markets like room refreshner brand Stella of Megasari.

In the recent time, the firm had done several acquisitions including Nigerian personal care brand Tura, Indonesia’s household insecticide brand Megasari, and two hair care firms — Issue and Argencos —in Latin America. The firm had also bought out its former partner Sara Lee from a joint venture in India.

On the other hand, regarding price rise, the firm managing director said, “We will follow what other industry players are doing.”

There were speculations of a price rise after a proposal to increase in excise duty in the Budget.