Sunscreen is growing at a scorching pace in urban India

Industry players pointed out that quick commerce and e-commerce are also helping the category become more accessible to consumers

Sunscreen category in India, though niche, is growing at a scorching pace thanks to influencers, social media and dermatologist recommendations. With it becoming a serious business, beauty companies are busy focusing on new launches, formats as well as sharper campaigns to ride on the growing adoption of the category this summer season.

According to Kantar Worldpanel, the sunscreen category segment, though still small, has been garnering rapid growth in urban India. K Ramakrishnan, Managing Director – South Asia, Kantar Worldpanel told businessline, “The sunscreen category is a niche, but emerging category in India. As of MAT February 2025, the category has a penetration of 4.3 per cent in urban India, experiencing more than 3X growth rate in the last four years. It has a significantly lower rural presence. It has high seasonality, with nearly half of the category shoppers purchasing it during summers. Though it is under penetrated in rural areas, it has reasonably good penetration levels across the Urban population strata.”

On Monday, Nykaa announced that it has become the exclusive partner of US-based brand Supergoop in India, strengthening its global beauty portfolio. In a statement, Anchit Nayar, Executive Director and CEO, Nykaa Beauty, said: “In a country where sun exposure is high year-round, the need for sun care awareness has never been more critical. We see this shift happening, sunscreen is now among the top three most-searched beauty categories on Nykaa, indicating growing curiosity but also a gap in daily SPF adoption. This launch is not just about introducing a cult-favourite brand, it’s about redefining how India perceives SPF.”

beat the heat

Shankar Prasad, Founder & CEO, Plum told businessline, “ We are seeing very good growth in the sunscreen segment this year. It’s well north of 50 per cent y-o-y for us and is in line with our aspiration for the category. Sunscreen is turning out to be an “essential” for Indian consumers, cutting across gender, age group and geography. The awareness about the category has improved of late thanks to social media, influencers and dermatologist recommendations.”

Industry players pointed out that quick commerce and e-commerce are also helping the category become more accessible to consumers.

Last week, sunscreen hit headlines as Hindustan Unilever and Honasa Consumer, parent of Mamaearth and DermaCo, sparred online over the latter’s Lakme campaign. HUL agreed to make some modifications in the Lakme campaign and Honasa Consumer agreed to remove social media posts on the same. “We respect the outcome to continue with our Sun Superiority Campaign with some modifications. This demonstrates the pivotal need for raising awareness around SPF efficacy, transparency, and accountability in the sun care category, keeping consumer interest and safety at the core. This campaign is part of Lakme’s broader commitment to set a new benchmark for sun protection standards in India,” HUL had said in a statement on Friday.

With some estimates suggest that the sunscreen category could hit the ₹5,000 crore mark by 2028, beauty companies are accelerating strategies to grab a bigger share of the fast-growing category.

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Published on April 22, 2025