Honasa Consumer bets on "Mega brand creation decade", says CEO Varun Alagh

Honasa Consumer Limited co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Varun Alagh said the company draws inspiration from global beauty giants such as L'Oreal and Estée Lauder when building new brands.

The company currently houses six brands—BBlunt, Aqualogica, Dr. Sheth's, and Staze—and recently added its latest prestige brand, Lumineve, to the Honasa Consumer portfolio.

Alagh explained that Honasa's approach to brand creation is rooted in identifying "consumer white spaces" through a "3-axis perspective".

"Skin care is a category, and within skin care, you have moisturizer, sun care, and more. Then there are other categories, such as hair care, fragrance, and oral care. The second axis is propositions, which include naturals, actives, hydration, salon professionals, and so on. The third axis is price," he said.

"If you look at the portfolios of L'Oreal or Estée Lauder, they operate at the intersection of these axes," he added.

Alagh noted that this framework is applied across every new brand that Honasa builds.

He also spoke about the company's internal innovation engine, called the Brand Factory, which incubates and scales new brands.

"If internal bandwidth is not enough, we explore options like our participation in Fang, or pursue M&A where we acquire brands and work with founders for years to scale them," he said.

"We will continue to explore opportunities to serve consumers by building new brands in India. The next decade is going to be a mega brand-creation opportunity in this country".

Earlier this month, the digital-first beauty and personal care company acquired a 25% stake in oral-care brand Fang Oral for Rs 10 crore. Alagh said the care is poised for significant growth over the next decade, driven by the rise of quick commerce.

"Every category and trend has its time. Quick commerce has created the ideal playground for categories priced under Rs 100 to Rs 200. In markets like the US, oral-care disruption lagged by 10-12 years compared to skin disruption, but today there are $100-300 million brands built in niche oral-care segments over just the last 5-7 years".

"We believe this to be a $700 million opportunity by 2030, driven by premiumization and rising aesthetic consciousness," he added.

In Q2 FY26, Honasa Consumer reported a net profit of Rs 39 crore, compared to a net loss of Rs 19 crore in Q2 FY25.EBIDTA turned positive at Rs 48 crore, with an underlying margin of 8.9%, against a negative Rs 31 crore last year. Operating revenue rose 16.5% year-over-year (YoY) to Rs 538 crore for the quarter.