Estée Lauder to Buy Indian Prestige Beauty Brand Forest Essentials

Founded in 2000, Forest Essentials has built a notable footprint of 200 stores, majority of which are in India, and some flagship stores in international locations such as the U.K., U.A.E, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Estée Lauder has been an early investor in the brand. The American beauty giant bought a minor stake in the Indian company in 2008, and upped its stake to 49% in 2020. By mid of 2026 it is set to acquire the full company pending regulatory approvals for an undisclosed amount.

Forest Essentials has seen consistent growth since its inception. It clocked revenue of about €54.7 million (INR 585 crore) in the financial year ending March 2025, noting 18% year-on-year growth.

The A-beauty (Ayurvedic beauty) brand was founded by Mira Kulkarni, a Fine Arts graduate from India, who started making soaps from her house as a hobby at age 45. She launched the brand with a small investment of just $3000 and two employees. Inspired by India’s centuries old Ayurvedic science, Kulkarni focused on using natural ingredients like Neem (a medicinal plant), Saffron and Almond oil to make the soaps. Within a few months, her products started gaining nationwide traction through word of mouth publicity. She attracted large orders from luxury hotels in India for her quality products and minimalist packaging. As demand grew, so did her product range from soaps to lotions, hair-care, makeup and fragrances. 

Even after Estée Lauder’s acquisition, Forest Essential will remain headquartered in New Delhi; its production, research and development will continue to be based out of India.

Beyond its investments in Forest Essentials, Estée Lauder has partnered with India’s largest omnichannel beauty player - Nykaa, to incubate India's upcoming beauty startups. Through its annual BEAUTY&YOU program launched in 2022, Estée Lauder supports next-gen entrepreneurs with mentorship, strategic guidance, and an annual prize pool of $500,000 to help scale India-focused beauty and skincare brands.

According to Kearney research, India’s prestige and luxury beauty market, currently dominated by overseas brands, is forecast to grow to $4 billion by 2035. Unlike mature Asian beauty markets like Japan and South Korea, where local players command 40% of the luxury and prestige segment, India’s homegrown brands hold only about 10% of the local market share, while 90% is dominated by overseas brands. Within this 10%, Forest Essentials is among the top 2 brands.

Kama Ayurveda is the other major homegrown player in India, in the prestige and luxury beauty segment. In 2022, Spanish perfume maker Puig bought a majority 85% stake in it. For the financial year ending March’25, Kama Ayurveda reported revenue of INR 141 crore (approx €13.18 million), maintaining a strong presence in the premium Ayurvedic beauty segment.

Set to become the world’s third largest economy by 2028, India has emerged as a critical growth market for the beauty industry, drawing significant strategic investment from global leaders. Earlier this year, L’Oréal announced a €326 million investment to establish its first global beauty-tech hub in Hyderabad, in southern India.