Indus Valley aims to secure 30% of India’s online premium hair colour market with organic offerings

Indus Valley is a natural, organic and halal brand that prides itself on its pioneering efforts in the organic boxed hair colour development.

It is best known for products such as its Damage-Free Gel Colour which do not contain hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, and paraphenylenediamine (PPD).

Another notable product is its 100% Botanical Aqua Colour which was developed for sensitive and allergy-prone scalps with ingredients such as henna and Indigo.

“We’ve been developing our organic hair colours for over 30 years. We started by replacing the irritating ingredients like hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, and paraphenylenediamine. It’s a never-ending process. Today, consumers want things to work in 10 minutes instead of 30 minutes and still be organic. They always ask for more and we drive ourselves to develop products according to their requirements,” said CEO Shyam S Arya, who founded the company alongside Dr Harinder Kaur Arya.

The brand is available in 25 markets globally spanning Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Asia Pacific.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia, Arya said the firm is working to accelerate its growth in the next few years on the back of its organic hair colours.

Like other boxed hair colour manufacturers, the company thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic as salons shuttered during lockdowns.

Post-COVID, the company has continued to see growth.

“We’re growing and we’re growing in a big way. In the last three years we grew around 30% every year. This year, we are seeing growth of around 50%,” said Arya.

Arya attributed the growth to its concentrated efforts to expand the brand online in its home market.

“We’re very focused on digital at the moment. Right now, we’re at around 16% to 18% of the digital market. This year, we plan to own 30% of the digital market for premium hair colour.

As part of its efforts, the company has invested in localised marketing for each region in India with regional celebrity ambassadors for instance.

‘An ambitious plan’​

In the next financial year, Indus Valley will begin its focus on expanding offline in India while approaching the international markets with a digital-first strategy.

“We’re running a very ambitious plan. Next, we are looking at the US, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. These are the five countries we will focus on,” said Arya.

Subsequently, the firm will focus on expanding offline internationally in the aforementioned markets. The firm has already secured warehouses in the US, Dubai, and Poland.

Arya expressed his confidence in the brand’s ability to capture the opportunities at home and overseas.

“We don’t see much challenge from the other brands. Of course, there are one or two brands which are our competitors from Europe, but I think we are far, far better because we have over 90% natural and organic colours and 100% with our Aqua Colours.”