Philips looks to step up play in India’s growing discretionary market

New Delhi: The last five years have seen global macroeconomic volatility impacting businesses in a way that hasn't happened before, but there is a broad-based momentum which gives confidence for the short term, said Philips's executive vice president and chief business leader (personal health) Deeptha Khanna. "It's early to conclude on the global volatility (impact). In India, 40% of volumes for personal health are locally manufactured, so that gives us a certain degree of control and management," she told ET in an interview on a recent India visit.

For the Dutch multinational Philips (Royal Philips), which makes grooming products including electric shavers, hair straighteners and dryers, sterilisers and electric toothbrushes, India is among the top 10 growth markets for personal health. Global supply chain disruptions have impacted the majority of sectors including components, key raw materials, packaging material and manufacturers of glass, plastics and cans amid the US-Iran war, in addition to inflation across categories.

Khanna, who operates out of Philips' headquarters in the Netherlands, and held leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble prior to joining the Dutch company in 2020, said most industries "went through a lot of supply chain volatility a few years ago with shortages of components and that's forced businesses to become a bit more geo-resilient, such as expanding supply chain resilience with dual sourcing and having a more balanced geographic manufacturing footprint".


In 2025, Philips' personal health products category accounted for 3.7 billion (21%) of the company's total revenue of 17.8 billion. The company operates across personal healthcare, health tech, and diagnosis and treatment equipment. "At an all-India level, this (India) is much more complex and there are many dynamics going on. But it is vast and diverse and we see pockets that are quite resilient," Khanna said. "When you look at the India market, the demographic trend, we see consumption among Gen Z and especially discretionary spending actually continue to grow. And that's a big place that we participate in." To resonate more with younger consumers, Philips India's personal health care arm has transitioned to influencers and content creators-led marketing for generating 50% of its content, and is creating 500-700 sets of influencer content on a monthly basis in the country, among the highest in the industry.

An increasing number of companies, from Hindustan Unilever to Amazon, are aggressively scaling up their influencer network to improve access to younger consumers and micro-marketing. HUL recently said it has more than 12,000 creators across 50 brands to push for localised engagement.

Khanna said that close to 70% of Philips' personal health care business in India is now online, including quick commerce and ecommerce, which she also attributed to a combination of younger consumers and the Covid-19 pandemic.