Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) has relaunched Velvette, the iconic hair care brand of the 1980s, in a new contemporary avatar, in collaboration with the founding family CK Rajkumar. This marks its new foray into the Indian personal care market.
The new Velvette range will include soaps, shampoos, conditioners, body washes and talcs, and will be rolled out first in Tamil Nadu before expanding to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by December. A national launch is planned for next year.
“We thought Velvette was a good place to start building a personal care brand. We took the traditional formulation and built on it. It will be available in major retail outlets across Tamil Nadu in the next 4 weeks,” RCPL Director T. Krishnakumar told CNBC-TV18.
Velvette’s revival comes as RCPL accelerates its plans to become a large-scale FMCG player. The company, part of Reliance Retail Ventures, is expanding its portfolio into personal care, home care, beverages and packaged foods, and aims to create at least five brands with an annual turnover of ₹1,000 crore each by the end of 2027.
“By this time next year, every category will be available nationally,” Krishnakumar said.
RCPL’s existing portfolio includes staples, snacks, biscuits and home care products, with new categories such as ready-to-cook, ready-to-eat and general merchandise in the pipeline. Within general merchandise, the company plans to focus on cleaning products, a segment with few organized players.
In beverages, RCPL is introducing Campa Sure, a packaged water brand priced at ₹15 for a one-litre bottle. Positioned under the Campa umbrella for instant brand recognition, Krishnakumar said Campa Sure aims to provide affordable drinking water while reducing logistics costs through collaborations with local manufacturers.
The first bottles will hit the North Indian market within three days. Starting with UP, followed by markets like NCR, Jammu Kashmir, etc., a pan-India rollout is expected over the next six months.
Krishnakumar said affordability remains at the heart of RCPL’s strategy. “If you want to expand distribution, most of India is in the affordability space. Our products are excellent, the same quality or better than those aimed at today’s premium consumers,” he said, adding that RCPL’s approach to premiumization is “to offer more value, not to charge a higher price.”
RCPL’s distribution focus remains firmly on general trading, which Krishnakumar described as the “anchor” of the company. He added that RCPL would also expand through institutional channels such as railway stores and canteens, while establishing an omnichannel presence.
As Velvette marks its return to the personal care sector and Campa Sure strengthens its beverages business, RCPL is positioning itself to scale rapidly in the Indian FMCG market, with an eye to building multiple brands worth ₹1,000 crore over the next two years.
