Symrise selects India and Virchow Group for first chemical manufacturing facility outside Europe and Americas

02 Apr 2024 --- Symrise expands to India as part of a joint venture with Virchow Group to manufacture personal care ingredients from the German chemicals company’s portfolio.

The new company operates under the name Vizag Care Ingredients and is the first chemical manufacturing site outside Europe and the Americas for Symrise. It is located in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, or Vizag, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

The chemical manufacturing site is set to begin production in the first half of the year. Future expansion plans for the Visakhapatnam site include “substantial annual capacities” to deliver the “ambitious” growth trajectory of Symrise in cosmetic ingredients. 

Symrise owns the majority of the new entity. Its portfolio of beauty ingredients combines with Virchow’s “longstanding” presence in the Indian market and “expertise” in synthetic chemistry-based pharmaceutical actives manufacturing.

“With the Vizag Care Ingredients joint venture, Symrise is creating and controlling additional capacity for fast-growing, high-value cosmetic ingredients. Underpinned by a strategic commitment to backward integration, this new facility serves as a critical enabler of our ambitious growth plans,” says Dr. Joern Andreas, president of Scent & Care, Symrise.

Expanding to India
Symrise’s global sales organization will promote and conduct sales activities for the products manufactured by the joint venture.

It believes the Visakhapatnam facility forms an “important milestone” in the company’s history and marks the next step in realizing Symrise’s ambition of building a global value chain. 

“Our entire customer base will benefit from the proximity, efficiency and sustainability advantages that come with a supply of our market-leading cosmetic ingredients portfolio out of India,” adds Andreas. 

“Together, we will manufacture modern ingredients in India that drive innovation, safety and efficacy for our global customers. In addition, we seek to impact the local community of Visakhapatnam by continuously investing and creating jobs.”

Symrise and Virchow Group create new company, Vizag Care Ingredients.Through the partnership, Symrise looks forward to strengthening its position as a supplier of “high-quality” personal care solutions — including multifunctional product protection ingredients, high-performance actives, botanicals and UV filters.

“Virchow, an established world leader in several pharmaceutical actives, brings expertise in high-volume synthetic chemical manufacturing and knowledge of good manufacturing practices. The joint venture serves as a diversification of Virchow Group into specialty chemicals,” concludes Prasanth Nandigala, director at the Board of Virchow Group companies.

Symrise recently launched a readily biodegradable ingredient, Savelite HB, ahead of In-cosmetics this month in Paris, France. The ingredient is based on technology that “reshapes” the field of product protection.

Savelite HB is a “colorless, odorless” liquid designed to act against oxidation and microorganisms to improve product protection and due to the ingredient’s ability to be cold processed, handling is simplified, saving time and energy during production.

Indian beauty developments
With a flourishing beauty landscape in India, global powerhouses Estée Lauder, Sabyasachi, Fenty Beauty and Nykaa collaborated for launches while Laura Mercier recently made its debut there.

The Indian government-founded India Brand Equity Foundation sees the country capturing 5% of the overall market share in global cosmetics by 2025 and ranking among the top five global markets in revenue growth.

Additionally, Reliance Retail is reportedly in talks to acquire the Italian beauty brand Kiko Milano. The play by India’s largest retail company would solidify the firm’s stake in a rapidly expanding local beauty market.

The potential deal could be worth about Rs 100 crore (US$12 million) and include the rights to franchise Kiko Milano’s brand products across India.

By Sabine Waldeck