Geetika Mehta, Managing Director of Nivea India, has urged the government to extend the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to the personal care sector and to create clearer regulatory distinctions between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. She appealed this at Massmerize 2025, an event organized by FICCI.
Mehta noted that while PLI schemes currently benefit food and pharmaceutical industries, personal care products are excluded despite their strong export potential. Nivea already manufactures at its Sanand, Gujarat, facility for both domestic and international markets, and she believes PLI support could accelerate India’s role as a global hub for personal care manufacturing.
A key concern, Mehta said, lies in how cosmetics and drugs are often regulated under similar frameworks. “Drugs, rightfully, need stricter regulation, but cosmetics require a little more space,” she explained. She highlighted cosmeceuticals—cosmetics with bioactive ingredients—as an emerging category that would benefit from differentiated rules.
She also pointed to bottlenecks in product testing and registration. Importing and registering new personal care products can take up to nine months, discouraging companies from experimenting with innovation. “It often gives us cold feet about whether to bring in newer products or stick with what we already have,” she admitted.
Mehta proposed flexible regulatory models that allow limited market testing before full-scale production, arguing this would encourage innovation while safeguarding consumers.
Her recommendations reflect a growing call from India’s beauty and personal care industry for reforms that balance safety, innovation, and global competitiveness.
