02 Jun Modernization a Necessity for Fragrance Industry: Sagar Suri
Sagar Suri, Director of RS Fragrances, believes that an industrial revolution is happening in the country at the moment. In such a situation, it is necessary to bring new thinking, new technology in the fragrance industry and his company is working fast in this direction. Sagar has studied Fragrance and Business Management from ISIPCA, France. In an exclusive conversation with ‘Sugandh India’, he says that this time we have got an opportunity to prove ourselves, because two years ago the perfume industry did not get as much importance as it gets today.
RS Fragrances manufactures 500-600 products, in which many products are mainly used in incense sticks like Lakshya, Bharatwasi, Classic Perfume, La-Rose, Wild Rose etc. The company’s largest plant is located at Deva Road in Lucknow, which has a capacity to produce 3-4 tonnes of goods.
Talking to ‘Sugandh India’, Sagar says that perfume is basically a luxury product. There has been a culture of fragrance in European countries. This is the reason why India has been importing fine fragrances, French perfumes and European perfumes because of their advanced thinking, culture and technology. In the current era, not only perfumes, the trend of new fragrances has increased in soap, oil and incense sticks as well. Explaining the reason behind getting into this industry, he said that he has joined this field with the responsibility of taking forward his family business. Sagar Suri, who studied fragrance for two years in France, said that the main emphasis of the company is on incense sticks. There are always new changes in this industry and he is constantly trying to bring new fragrances to the market. For this, there is continuous R&D. He said that change happens not only in the agarbatti industry but in every field, because today’s youth is growing with new thinking. It constantly aims to innovate, grow and do better and this is also the vision of the company.
Responding to a question, he said that fragrance generally depends on the mood of the consumers. Even though we may say that the traditional fragrances are evergreen, the consumer always wants something new after a few months. In the incense stick industry earlier there were traditional fragrances of bela, jasmine, rose, sandalwood. Today, the demand for European perfumes is increasing especially, because people want newness. He said that India is a very big country, with a huge population. There are many states and different cultures. In a country of such diversity, it is not possible to believe that the fragrance of only one incense stick will spread throughout the country. Like every state has its own culture, language, lifestyle and food, there is a different choice of aroma. What is preferred in North India does not work in South India and what is desired by the West does not work in the East. Everyone’s taste and mood is different. Traditional fragrances and cheap products are preferred in Rajasthan, but there is a demand for new fragrances and premium and branded products in Delhi, Mumbai.
To a question about the increasing demand for fruit fragrances like pineapple etc in the industry, he said that the main reason for this is that Europe has different tastes and people get newness in fragrances there because fragrance is associated with fashion. Of course, there is a constant change in it. The products from there also come into the country. That’s why people in India are also changing. Earlier in India, fragrance meant natural perfume and attar. Fragrance is now considered a fashion symbol, which is constantly changing. Though the traditional fragrance is evergreen, the way a man gets bored of using the same type of food, cloth and colour and watching the same movie, people also need a change in the fragrance, because after some time the mood changes. In such a situation, companies will also keep making changes according to the needs of the people, then the future of the incense sticks industry will be better.
On the question related to inflation and shortage of raw materials in the country, he said that revolutionary changes are taking place in India’s economic policies. People’s thinking is changing. Demand has changed. There has been a huge change from fuel to information technology. In such a situation, there is a shortage of raw material today because the availability of raw material is not as per the demand of fragrance. The country’s requirement was earlier dependent on imports, as long as we depend on imports, the problem will remain, but now gradually the change is happening and the dependence on multinational companies is decreasing. Foreign companies like Oriental Aromatics, Organica, Privy etc. have been working for 10-12 years. Earlier there was dependence on China, but due to the Corona crisis, there has been a shortage of raw materials, which will be recovered soon.
On the question of RS Fragrance’s growth and future strategy, Sagar Suri said that he has gotten a state of the art software developed , which is managing all the formulas, inventory, customers, of the company.. The future of our company will be much better than other people’s. He said that we have a lot of potential. We have educated people here. IITs and IIMs have large numbers of educated people. There are ample resources and a huge market. In such a situation, I am sure that we will soon overcome the shortage of raw materials. To make the country self-reliant in this field, many companies have started making raw materials. At this time we have got an opportunity to prove ourselves because major changes are taking place in the economic and industrial policies.
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