After 'Campa' and 'SIL', Reliance Consumer Products acquires 1980s shampoo brand 'Velvette'

Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL), the FMCG arm of Reliance Industries, has acquired Chennai-based personal care brand, Velvette for an undisclosed price. The acquisition sees RCPL take ownership of the Velvette brand from Chennai-based CNE, an old-time FMCG name that famously owned and sold shampoos in tiny sachets under the 'Velvette' brand back in the 1980s.

"Everyone knows how Velvette began, in the context of the Indian sachet revolution, which meant that its products were affordable and accessible to people who wanted to try them," said Ketan Mody, COO at Reliance Consumer Products Limited, "I understand there hasn't been brand recall (in recent times) since production was halted, but we can change that in a short span of time."

Velvette was launched in 1980 by Chennai-based entrepreneur, CK Rajkumar, who is credited with brother, CK Ranganathan (Founder-Chairman of FMCG major, CavinKare), for starting India's sachet revolution. The brand remained on shelves, developing a niche in South India, until production came to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rajkumar passed away in October 2020.

Today, CNE is managed by Rajkumar's son, Arjun who is CEO at CNE, which handles the marketing and distribution of the company's legacy brands like Nivaran 90, Memory Plus and Memory Vita that continue to be sold in retail stores across South India.

"I don't think it was easy for us as a family," said Arjun, on the sale of Velvette to the Reliance Group. "We had to contemplate and see where it was going to go," he added, "On discussing the sale with Ketan and his team, we realized that they had a vision to take Velvette not just back to where it began, but into a much bigger stratosphere."

For Reliance Consumer Products, the acquisition of Velvette is the latest in a series of acquisitions involving "heritage" Indian brands. In 2022, the company bought the 'Campa' brand from Pure Drinks, before following it up with the acquisition of Mumbai-based SIL Foods for an undisclosed sum. The approach to these acquisitions has been studied and strategic.

"We have an important tenet of trying to revive Indian heritage brands," said Mody, "Our acquisition of Velvette is an important one in personal care, because it gives us a start in our efforts to give the product back to the consumer."

CNBC-TV18 learns that RCPL will extend the brand from shampoos to the entire personal care range. "We will start with sachets and shampoos, but it will go across the entire personal care range, since we don't intend to just keep it at sachets and shampoos," said Mody, "It will be an important brand for us, not only in Tamil Nadu but Pan-India."

The company is reportedly planning to leave much of the Velvette branding unchanged, aside of giving it a contemporary touch in order to stay relatable to present-day consumers. While RCPL continues to look for more opportunities to acquire heritage brands, the company is tight-lipped about specific FMCG segments it is targeting.