Kosé abandons joint venture in favour of subsidiary in India
Japan’s Kosé Corporation has abandoned plans announced in March 2013 to enter the cosmetics market in India.
Japan’s Kosé Corporation has abandoned plans announced in March 2013 to enter the cosmetics market in India via joint venture with Mumbai based Elder Pharmaceuticals. Kosé had planned to take a 60% in a joint venture provision- ally named Kosé Elder (India) Private Ltd, which would manufacture skin care and make-up products at Elder’s production facilities and sell them at pharmacies and cosmetic shops. Elder, though mainly a drug maker, also sells its own cosmetics and those licensed from foreign companies in India. When a deadline at the end of 2013 to conclude discussions about the project could not be met, the two parties agreed to cancel their basic agreement to establish the joint venture. Kosé now plans to proceed via a local subsidiary Kosé Corporation India.
According to Kosé, half of India’s 1.2 billion population are 25 or younger and powering growth in consumer markets. Women’s fashion is diversifying and prefer- ences in cosmetics are also changing: the market for them is expected to expand dramatically in the future, making India third largest cosmetic market in Asia, following Japan and China. For Kosé, India is a key to boosting the company’s presence in the global market.
