Page 131 - CW E-Magazine (8-4-2025)

Point of View

F&F industry faces regulatory pressures, but

innovation opportunities hold key

The business of fragrances and flavours (F&F) is mystical, magical and multi-dimensional. It conjures emotions that are at
times backed by science, but more often by imaginative advertising. Products of the industry may not qualify as essential but
certainly make daily life more enjoyable. The industry is global, but local companies are the flavour (pun intended) in many countries,
including India, and have a significant market share.

The F&F industry conjures its products using a palette of a few thousand ingredients – natural and synthetic. The ingredients
are formulated and used directly (fine fragrances) or indirectly in myriad products including soaps, detergents, cosmetics, pharma-
ceuticals, and textiles. Flavour ingredients also find their way into many products, but their main end-use is in foods & beverages
wherein they enhance, modify or even suppress tastes. As these vary from one part of the world to another, so do the types of
flavours used, but the growth of a sizeable food processing industry is crucial for growth of flavour markets.

F&F products are present throughout most market segments of a product – say, from an expensive detergent one to the cheapest.
The level of fragrance use in a product may just be between 0.5% to 2.0% but its performance attributes are much higher.

Three compartments
The F&F industry can be categorised into three compartments: essential oils, floral extracts & spice oils (naturals); aroma
chemicals (synthetics); and formulated products. In the first two, India has a significant role as supplier.

F&F compounds vary in the number and types of ingredients and are available in a variety of forms (concentrates,
solutions, crystals and powders). Many compositions are custom-made for a client – at the latter’s request – and, at
times, proprietary. Indeed, many fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) have come to be very closely identified with the
smell they have!

Strong position in some naturals
Essential oils have a foundational role in the F&F industry. This industry is important to India, due its ability to enrich rural
economies by providing farmers crop diversification opportunities through cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, as also
extraction, isolation and purification of commercially important essential oils. The best-known essential oil from India is mentha
oil, from which natural menthol is derived. India is the undisputed world leader in natural menthol production, though this
dominance has been somewhat eroded by the growing availability of a synthetic equivalent produced by a few companies through
the petrochemical route.

India’s success in natural menthol highlights the important role of science and technology and the relevance of cooperative
models for market development. The three full-fledged, publicly-funded research laboratories operating under the Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) have developed high yielding varieties of several oil-bearing crops, carried out extensive field trials
and convinced farmers of the merits of cultivating them. While mentha arvensis cultivation was the first major success, it has
most recently been repeated in lavender, which cultivation offers the prospects of reinvigorating economies in politically sensitive
regions like Jammu & Kashmir. Another noteworthy success has been in floral extracts and spice oils, which production, unlike
menthol, is largely in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

Despite the success achieved, there is ample opportunity to further diversify the range of essential oils on offer and their scale
of production. The Aroma Mission launched some years ago with this in mind has had reasonable success.

Chemistry skills in aroma chemicals
Indian companies have also built significant capabilities in the business of aroma chemicals and count amongst the leading
producers in the world for several. Like active ingredients for agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, these companies have leveraged

Chemical Weekly April 8, 2025 131

Contents Index to Advertisers Index to Products Advertised