Marico Limited is an Indian multinationalConsumer goods Company[5] providing consumer products and services in the areas of health, beauty and wellness. With its headquarters in Mumbai, Marico is present in over 25 countries across Asia and Africa. It owns brands in categories of hair care, skin care, edible oils, health foods, male grooming, and fabric care.[6][7]
Harsh Mariwala is the chairman and Saugata Gupta assumed the role of the managing director in March 2014 and is currently the MD and CEO of this organisation.[8][6]
History
Marico Limited was established on 13 October 1988 under the name of Marico Foods Limited. Later, in 1989 the name of the company was changed from Marico Foods Limited to Marico Industries Limited.[9] The first International office for Marico was set up in Dubai in year 1992. Marico was first listed on the Indian stock exchange in 1996.[10]
1999 – The company expanded with its first overseas manufacturing facility in Bangladesh. Marico acquired Mediker in the same year.
2003 – Marico Innovation Foundation, responsible for executing the Corporate Social Responsibility of Marico was formed. In the same year Marico set up copra collection centres to procure directly from farmers increasing their margins.
2006 – Nihar entered the Marico fold.
2006-7 – Marico acquired Fiancée and Hair Code in Egypt and Caivil, Black Chic and Hercules in South Africa.
2009 – Marico made a public offering of equity in Bangladesh; a first for one of its overseas subsidiaries.
2010 – Marico launched Saffola breakfast, Masala Oats in India.
2011 – Parachute Advanced entered the skin-care category with the launch of Parachute Advanced Body Lotion (PABL), another innovation by Marico. The year also marks the launch of Parachute Gold hair cream in the Middle East market, which was targeted at women. Marico acquired a male grooming, skin care and food portfolio in Vietnam the same year.
2012 – India's Gen Next got styled by Marico as it launched its male grooming brand, SetWet.[11]
2015 – Marico's Market Cap toped ₹25,000 crore.
2017– Marico acquired South African hair styling business Isoplus;[12] launched Saffola Active[11] Slimming Nutri-shake (marking entry into nutraceuticals category) and acquires a 45 percent stake in Zed Lifestyle (Beardo)[13]
2018 – Marico invested in Revolutionary Fitness (Revofit);[14] launched a new brand – True Roots[15] that delays hair greying and launched its first digital exclusive brand – Studio X;[16] launched Saffola Fittify.[17]
2019 – Marico announced association with Kaya to create a skincare sub-brand, Kaya Youth.[18]
Brands
The organisation holds a number of household brands such as Parachute, Parachute Advanced, Saffola, Hair & Care, Nihar, Nihar Naturals, Livon, Set Wet, Mediker and Revive. In the international market, Marico is represented by brands like Parachute, HairCode, Fiancée, Caivil, Hercules, Black Chic, Code 10, Ingwe, X-Men and Thuan Phat.
Male grooming – Set Wet, Beardo, Parachute Advansed Men Aftershower Hair Cream[6]
Hair Care – Parachute, Parachute Advansed, Nihar Naturals, Nihar Naturals Uttam, Hair & Care Fruit Oils, Mediker, Livon
Parachute is the flagship brand of Marico which consists of edible grade coconut oil. Marico manufactures and markets its coconut based hair oils under its brand – Parachute "Advanced" and a series of extensions thereof.[19]
Others
Saffola is essentially blended refined edible oil. It is marketed under the names of New Saffola, Tasty and Active. All of them contain blended vegetable oils in various ratios. The main type of oils which are blended include rice bran oil, Kardi oil or safflower oil, corn oil and soya oil.
Parachute "Advanced" hair oils contain around 50% (v/v) to 80% (v/v) mineral oil, along with coconut oil. Advanced Aloe Vera Enriched Coconut Hair Oil contains: Coconut oil (50% v/v), Mineral l (49.6% v/v), BHT, Aloe Vera extract & Perfume.
Mineral oil is known to cause skin cancer.[20]
Even though highly refined oils (classified as Group 3) are not suspected to be carcinogenic, available information is not sufficient to classify them as harmless.[21]
NRI in the Middle East had been smuggling Parachute oil with them for their daily use when export of the oil was restricted prior to the 1991 economic liberalisation. Marico decided to try to sell products in that market after liberalisation, but found out that the Arab customers did not like the scent of coconut, wanted a less sticky hair product, and needed a product to counteract the high level of chlorination in their water. When Marico reformulated its product, its market share in the Middle East grew from 2% in 2002 to more than 20% by 2008.[23]
