Kishore Biyani sets sights on Iraya to speed up Future Groups's growth.

Kishore Biyani's Future Group is closing in on an ayurvedic company and is in advanced stages of talks to acquire Iraya, that sells a host of personal care products, from Athena Life Sciences, two persons familiar with the development said. This would mark Biyani’s entry into a sector that has seen great demand lately.

Founded in 2014 by three former executives of Paras Pharmaceuticals, bought by UK’s Reckitt Benckiser in 2011, the Ahmedabad-based cosmeceutical and therapeutic beauty treatment company, Athena Life Sciences, sells brands like Hair for Sure, a hair regrowth treatment, and antidandruff lotion D'Free. Iraya has a bouquet of hair and personal care products in the ayurvedic, botanical and spa space.

Iraya would be Biyani’s entry vehicle into the torrid ayurvedic space that has been made popular over the years by the emergence of Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved that sells ayurvedic products worth more than Rs. 10,000 crore annually. This prompted global and local rivals like Hindustan Unilever, P&G, Colgate Palmolive and Dabur, among others to either introduce or ramp up their own ayurvedic products portfolio

Future Group and Athena did not respond to emails seeking comment for this story.

The natural segment of India's personal care market is estimated to be worth Rs. 18,500 crore, or almost 41% of the total personal care market, consumer research firm Nielsen found.

ET