Beauty & cosmetics major L'Oreal India gets new chief in top deck rejig
market leader
is headed for a leadership shake-up. Beauty and cosmetics major
L'Oreal
has appointed Jacques Lebel as its India country manager, replacing Aseem Kaushik who will be the company's chairman. Both appointments will be effective October 1, 2025.
Lebel previously served as general manager of the consumer products division (CPD) for L'Oreal in Mexico, where he significantly accelerated business growth. Earlier, Lebel held senior marketing and general management roles at companies including P&G and AB InBev across Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa.
The Indian subsidiary of French multinational L'Oreal SA said Kaushik's new role underscores its commitment to India's dynamic market landscape with a mandate to focus on corporate reputation, managing public affairs, strengthening stakeholder engagement, and driving corporate social responsibility initiatives.
"The leadership transition is to do with catalysing growth in a high-potential market like India," said an executive who requested anonymity. "Competition from the naturals segment, digital-only, and regional beauty brands, many of which sell at lower prices or through subscription-based models, has intensified very aggressively in recent years," the person noted. "Incumbents can no longer take their share for granted."
This comes days after FMCG leader
Hindustan Unilever
on July 10 announced that its CEO and managing director of two years, Rohit Jawa, was stepping down. He will be succeeded by another Unilever veteran, Priya Nair, effective August 1.
For L'Oreal, which has a legacy portfolio of brands including L'Oreal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York and NYX Professional Makeup, India is a core strategic market.
Its global chief Nicolas Hieronimus had told reporters last month that it intends to "more than double its production in India in the next couple of years from the current production of half-a-billion units."
In the hair and beauty salons segment, L'Oreal's portfolio includes L'Oreal Professionnel, Matrix and Kerastase. It also distributes premium labels Kiehl's, Lancome and Yves Saint Laurent in India.
L'Oreal India's sales grew 14% to ₹5,685 crore during FY25 while its net profit was flat at ₹488 crore.
The performance was significantly lower than previous two fiscals when its revenues grew over 30%, indicating surging competition, especially from new-age direct-to-consumer rivals that are targeting younger consumer cohorts.
Kaushik joined L'Oreal in 1995 with the consumer products division and was part of the L'Oreal startup operations in India in the East and North and launched L'Oreal consumer brands like Garnier, Maybelline and L'Oreal Paris across the country. He was elevated as the country head in January 2023 after a brief stint as head of professional products in Singapore and Hong Kong.
The French cosmetics firm has about 8% share of India's face-care market dominated by Hindustan Unilever with more than 40% share.
L'Oreal is the market leader in the hair colour segment and has, over the past decade, trained about 3.3 million hairdressers.
The company entered India three decades ago by selling affordable packs and sachets, including its largest selling product Garnier hair colour. Its reach is however only limited to only about 230 million people who have a purchasing power parity of over $20 a day.
India currently accounts for just over 1% of L'Oreal's annual sales of over ₹41 billion, making it the 15th biggest market worldwide. The company expects the country to rank among its top 10 markets within the next few years with an annual revenue of ₹1 billion. India's beauty and personal care market is estimated to touch sales of $34 billion by 2028, up from $20 billion presently, a Nykaa-Redseer Strategy Consultants Beauty Trends report said. It cited "aspirational spending, reach and discoverability through e-commerce and
quick commerce
, and social media influences" as growth drivers.
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