Sugandh India | Agarbatti industry needs to diversify to other fragrance domains: Girish Vaze

February 2023 Uncategorized

Agarbatti industry needs to diversify to other fragrance domains: Girish Vaze

February 2, 2023

by sugandh

-Aquila bringing out new in traditional notes

Aquila Organics is a renowned name in the fragrance industry that provides a wide variety of high quality aroma chemicals, fragrance compounds and flavors to manufacturers of fragrance and flavor related products. Girish Vaze, MD & Chief Perfumer of Aquila Organics, has a decade long experience in fragrance and flavour industry and comes from the pioneers of perfumery, S H Kelkar family, being a third generation member. In a special conversation with Sugandh India, Mr. Vaze emphasized the need for diversification in the agarbatti industry.

Aquila Organics has been catering to the fragrance and flavour industry for the last 10 years. Established in 2010 by Girish Vaze, who is the third generation of the S H Kelkar family, the pioneers in perfumery. Having worked at S H Kelkar & Co, Mr. Vaze was in charge of the entire Aroma Ingredients Division at S.H. Kelkar and Company for almost a decade.

In a Tête-à-tête with Sugandh India, Mr. Vaze said that they are building a network across the country and manufacturing high quality products for the Agarbatti industry. He added that post covid, the market graph is going up and there is enthusiasm among manufacturers. We too are monitoring this and preparing new products accordingly.

Answering the question about what Aquila Organics is providing the agarbatti industry? He said “, The era of traditional fragrances is coming back with new variants. Traditional fragrances like; Gulab, Mogra, Bela, Chameli, Kewda, Champa, Chandan, Loban, Oud and Bakhoor are reengineered constantly to suit the expectations of urban customers.” He added, “Aquila Organics is also coming up with new traditional and herbal fragrances like belpatra, tulsi, etc. through extensive R&D.” Speaking further Mr. Vaze said,” people are now moving back towards the ancient traditions. The era of traditional fragrances is making a comeback with new variants. That’s why we are also focusing on traditional fragrances. Apart from this, we have also prepared several RTDs which relieves the manufacturers of the burden of fluctuations in prices of chemicals. This further makes it easy for them to manage raw materials and inventory. He added that to survive in the fragrance industry, research on new fragrances is a necessity. The market is full of competition & ups- downs.

While sharing his views about the agarbatti industry, Mr. Vaze highlighted, “there is a need for diversification in the agarbatti industry. Changes take place swiftly in the agarbatti industry. Along with agarbatti, other incense products like dry sticks, bakhoor etc. are also gaining market share. However, Agarbatti manufacturers need to innovate and diversify. There is a lot of potential in other fragrance product fields such as air fresheners, scented candles, etc.” Adding to this he said, “ If we discuss challenges, then sourcing raw materials is one the major challenges, especially if you are highly dependent on a particular raw material. For example, there is a shortage of bamboo which affects the entire agarbatti industry as the industry is heavily dependent on it. In such a situation, the industry needs to expand into other areas of fragrances like air care, diffusers, etc. so that a particular problem does not affect the entire industry as a whole.

Concluding the conversation, Mr. Vaze said, “ Agarbatti industry is one the major industries for the fragrance industry and despite the problems faced in the past, this industry is moving uphill with great enthusiasm. A lot of new trends and innovations are coming up which also excite us as we always tend to do something new.” Further concluding, he added, “ With our focus on innovation, we have high quality products not just for the agarbatti industry but for all the sectors related to fragrance and flavour.

Aquila provides good quality products at competitive prices: Shalin P. Kale Shalin P. Kale, Sales & Marketing Head of Aquila Organics in a conversation with Sugandh India shares, “Aquila has spread its wings not just all over India but overseas as well.” further sharing about the product lines, he added, :” we specialise in fragrances for Agarbatti, Fine Fragrances, Oud, Bakhoor, Fabric Care especially Detergent Powder & Cake, Fabric Softener & Detergent Liquid.” On the question regarding the agarbatti industry, Mr. Kale said, “ industry was in a critical condition during covid pandemic and prior to that there was a shortage of bamboo sticks along with the emergence of numerous manufacturers.” He added, “with the problems came various new trends and mfrs tried to focus on products such as reed diffusers, dhoop, cones, agarbatti w/o bamboo sticks , etc that do not require bamboo. Earlier, Companies would take risks but now they have a more cautious approach.” Further adding he said, “ agarbatti industry is now more focused towards providing quality products and despite the problems, the industry is growing a lot because for any or every occasion, an agarbatti is used and lit.” Sharing his views on growing competition, Mr. Shalin said, “with increased competition in domestic markets, overseas markets seem a better option. Business is growing in; Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and African countries. This is a small industry but the scope is huge, and the future is bright.” Highlighting the need of the agarbatti industry, he said, “ Manufacturers now demand cost-effective products. Initially however, they did not consider the price, only the quality. It is psychological that expensive means quality, whereas nowadays you can get quality at less price as well.” He added, “It is our endeavor to provide cost effective products. For example, nowadays RTD at low cost is in demand. “ Continuing he said,” As the markets are volatile and all the manufacturers are cautious which is why they don’t keep the stock of raw materials but only finished products as per their requirements and also instead go for job work too.” Wrapping up the conversation, Mr. Kale said, “keeping up with the demand, his firm creates cost effective products for the manufacturers as the prices of existing ones have gone up and thus people need cheaper substitutes to survive, which we excel at providing.”

L-R: Arjun Ranga, M.D., Cycle Group – Girish Vaze, M.D., Aquila Organics – Sharath Babu, AIAMA Past President – Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister Karnataka at AIAMA EXPO 2022