UK's Lush returns to India as luxury beauty booms

By Praveen Paramasivam

CHENNAI (Reuters) -UK cosmetics brand Lush has returned to India around two decades after its exit, aiming to tap the country's booming luxury beauty market, a senior executive told Reuters.

The company has partnered with Bengaluru-based Bilberry Brands under a licensing deal, starting with an online launch before expanding into physical stores.

Global beauty brands from Estee Lauder to Japan's Shiseido are ramping up their presence in India as growth slows in developed markets, betting on the nation's luxury beauty market that is expected to quintuple to $4 billion by 2035.

"Shopping retail has changed a lot. You have got a lot more Western brands (that) people are more aware of," Lush co-founder Rowena Bird said in an interview, attributing the growing awareness to rising Internet use in India.

In its first 18–24 months of expansion, Lush and its partner aim to open stores in major cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, after approaching 25 top malls nationwide, Bilberry Brands founder Vishal Anand said.

Founded in 1995 and known for its "bath bombs", or fizzy, scented balls that dissolve in water, Lush operates in over 50 countries with more than 850 stores. It posted a turnover of nearly 675 million pounds ($887.36 million) for the year ended 30 June 2024, down 5% from a year earlier.

The re-launch follows a July free-trade agreement between Britain and India that will cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars, and phase out duties of up to 22% on UK cosmetics and toiletries.

Lush will import most of the 350-plus products for the country from its UK factory, while making a small share of "fresh" items such as face masks locally with Indian ingredients, Bird said.

($1 = 0.7607 pounds)

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Sonia Cheema)