Nivedita Ghosh (27) and her husband spend close to Rs 5,000 a month on fitness and beauty care. The Bangalore-based couple feels a “fit and groomed presence” at the workplace is as important as attire.
More and more young Indians and middle-aged professionals are increasingly spending on wellness. This is prompting both domestic and global players to expand their footprint in the country.
According to a FICCI-PwC report titled
Increased investments in employee welfare and fitness by corporates is also boosting the industry, Dr Vikram B. M. of Snap Fitness India said.
“Currently, we have 40 fitness clubs across the country. We are planning to raise $5-6 million as equity funding to add 260 clubs over the next five years,” he told Business Line . Each centre of Snap Fitness roughly makes Rs 1.2 crore a year, Vikram added.
Beauty care
Meanwhile, the report had pegged the beauty care market at approximately Rs 29,000 crore in 2012. “The Indian skin care market offers tremendous opportunity in fast-evolving categories of specialised skin care like anti-ageing or pigmentation and male grooming,” Arvind R P, Head, Marketing, Kaya Skin Clinic.
VLCC, another wellness brand specialising in weight loss and body shaping arena, is chalking out plans to introduce new formats. While it plans to enter the gym and salon domains, expansion of product portfolio and distribution network is also on the cards.
Sandeep Ahuja, MD, VLCC Health Care Ltd, said, “We have a detailed plan for organic growth till 2017. More than Rs 200 crore will be invested across verticals in India and overseas.”
More than 50 per cent of the store additions for some wellness players have been in smaller citiesduring 2012-2013, the report noted. This trend has been attributed to rising income, increasing awareness among consumers in smaller cities.
Low rental and manpower costs have also made smaller cities attractive for wellness industry players.