L'Oreal plans ayurvedic products

French cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA plans to buy an ayurvedic skin-care brand to bring the Indian vision of beauty to the world.

"We would be interested in buying an ayurvedic brand to tap the increasing consumer appetite for exotic beauty products.," company's Chief executive Jean-Paul Agon was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.

The company is exploring a wide range of options and hasn't yet identified the brand it would like to buy, the paper said. Agon, who took over as chief executive last year after heading the company's business in regions such as the US and China, said L'Oreal's strategy would be to use its new Indian purchase as a launching pad to introduce ayurvedic

products all over the world.

The next three to five years will be a period of major growth for the company in India, he was quoted as saying by the paper.

The new Indian acquisition will be small and isn't likely to make up more than 5 per cent of future sales growth in India. But an added benefit of the purchase is that it might give L'OrTal expertise in ayurvedic medicine.

L'Oreal has become one of the world's biggest cosmetics companies by tacking local brands onto its global beauty portfolio, it said.

Faced with sluggish cosmetics-market growth in Europe and the US, the Journal said, L'Oreal has rushed into consumer markets such as India, China, Brazil and Mexico in the past few years.