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Unlike IT services and pharma, consumer brands from India have rarely gone global. There are two reasons for this, says Ananth Narayanan, Founder and CEO of BRND.ME (formerly Mensa Brands), in a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder & CEO of YourStory, on the final day of TechSparks 2025. The first is that it was very hard to understand global consumers while sitting in India. That, however, is changing. The rise of global e-commerce platforms has made it possible to study and serve consumers anywhere in the world, he says. The second reason lies in how the distribution worked. “If Dabur wanted to enter the Middle East, for instance, it needed distributors, offices, and local setups before even selling there. Today, for Rs 120–140 in India, or $4 in the US, you can ship almost anywhere in the world. That’s changed,” says Narayanan. What needs to change next, he believes, is ambition. “If Indian founders have global aspirations, we can create the next generation of global consumer brands. Why should it only be Unilever and P&G?” At BRND.ME, Narayanan and his team are building in two key spaces: health and wellness—with brands like MyFitness, Botanic Earth, and Majestic Pure—and lifestyle, where they now run the largest party and celebration business in India, and the second largest in the US, UK, and UAE. “So it’s absolutely possible to build global brands from India,” he says. Technology and AI: New brand engine The other big shift driving this possibility is technology and AI. “People often think of tech as front-end tech,” says Narayanan. “But the use of AI and tech can transform brand building itself—from product development, pricing and ads. All of this can be automated and done very well at scale. It allows you to compete with the bigger guys,” he adds. Building a global brand from India One of BRND.ME’s flagship brand, Majestic Pure, is now a popular aromatherapy brands. “We don’t retail much in India because aromatherapy isn’t a large market,” Narayanan explains. “But here’s the interesting insight – India is among the top three or four exporters of essential oils, body oils, massage oils, and diffusers. We’ve always made the products but never built a brand.” The company wants to change that by using India’s sourcing, design, and technology advantage to build global consumer identities. “That [Majestic Pure] business is now doing around Rs 400–450 crore in annualised revenue and growing rapidly,” he says. “It’s possible to build scale. It’s possible to understand consumers globally. And it’s possible to build very interesting and defensible brands.” Today, Majestic Pure sells across Target.com, Walmart.com, TikTok Shop, and direct-to-consumer channels, well beyond Amazon. “We have a level playing field now,” says Narayanan. “We have talent. We have great brand managers. Why can’t we build global brands from India?” (Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti)
