The henna industry in India, which seemed to be a dying industry back in 2010 and barely managed to sustain the blow in 2020 due to the Covid outbreak, witnessed a business growth of nearly 50 per cent this year on the occasion of Karwa Chauth and festival season.

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“This year the business growth was already more than 30-40 per cent as compared to the pre-pandemic era since things were getting back to normalcy after two years. People are participating in weddings and festivals. With Karwa Chauth and the festive season approaching the business growth is about to cross 50 per cent,” said Shyam Sunder Tak, owner of SM Heena Industries, Sojat, Rajasthan.

 

According to various business owners, currently, the henna industry has a market of nearly Rs 4000 crore and is expected to flourish further in the coming years. The business has already spiked a lot a week before the Karwa Chauth.

Revival from the dying state 

The industry received a massive blow in 2010 as the exports fell drastically in that year due to the production of affordable henna products from bigger companies in other countries.

“In India, we make herbal henna products, so they are expensive. But gradually, several companies from other countries started producing artificial henna that is affordable. So the exports fell,” said Tak. As per the business owners of the henna industry, nearly 12 to 13 thousand tonnes of henna used to get exported yearly till 2010. But now it has fallen to hardly 3-4 thousand tonnes a year.

Things got even worse for the industry as a lot of restrictions in terms of exports and imports were imposed by various countries after Covid.

Although it faced several challenges in terms of exports, a strong consumer base in the domestic market helped the industry revive. But the industry is gradually gaining momentum on the export side as well in recent times, as people have started acknowledging the positive impact of herbal products.

“We have again started exporting henna to Middle East countries and other countries. Exports are doing good. Cones are more in demand,” said Anil Mewara, General Manager, of Sanay Industries, a henna company based in Rajasthan.

 

The GI tag 

Another major factor that contributed to the fame of mehndi is its geographical indication (GI) tag.

The Sojat mehndi received the Geographical Indication (GI) certificate in January 2022. The GI tag has helped to increase mehndi exports, believes the business owners.

Sojat city in Rajasthan is also called 'mehndi nagri', and it is India’s largest henna-cultivating and producing city. It has a special colour due to the area’s soil conditions and rain pattern.

According to some small-scale business owners in Rajasthan, the demand for this Mehendi has encouraged farmers to grow more and now stretches of henna plantations spread over an area of 60 kms.

GI tag is a form of intellectual property, a certification given to items that are unique to a geographical region. It helps to build economic interests around the products.

 

Growth driven by the domestic market 

Business owners stressed on the fact that the growth of the henna industry has been primarily driven by the domestic market. They mentioned that during the Covid years, many factories shut down and there was no profit margin. Yet the industry managed to revive because of the demand in the domestic market in 2022. 

“Previously, before Covid happened, there was a demand for 10 lakhs bags of henna in the local mandi. So we used to get so many bags from the farmers. Now we had to get 20 lakhs bags from the farmers just for the mandi,” added Mewara.