NEW DELHI : Have you ever wondered who makes the tempting aroma of your favourite cake, or the enticing scent of the most loved facewash just right? Ask Manoj Arora, managing director and master perfumer, Sacheerome, the 35-year-old firm that makes your daily-use products smell great. Apart from a team of 24 perfumers, flavourists and 10 evaluators, he has employed the services of three robots at the facility in Delhi’s Okhla to get the job done.

Sacheerome is behind the fragrances and flavours for some of India’s best known fast-moving consumer goods brands such as Godrej, Emami, ITC, CavinKare, Marico and Ajmal Perfumes. The company is planning to get six more robots for the upcoming facility at Greater Noida, he said.

Sacheerome has supplied fragrances or flavours for over 750 products used at homes, like toothpaste, face wash and floor cleaning liquids. This year, it will make nearly 550 metric tonnes of perfumes and fragrances.

In the complicated world of fragrance making, humans must take the help of robots with complex technical names to identify precise ingredients. The tools are akin to using a CT scan machine that can identify any problem and the quantity needed for each product.

“Robots in a way are tools used to blend the fragrances for precision and are used for production and automated dispensing. They are not used specifically to create the fragrances but for production, precision of the highest level, speed and, most of all, secrecy," Arora said.

The rest is done by the perfumer’s nose, he said. Evaluators map products and observe and advise on future trends, besides helping identify the deficiencies in the profile, strength, retention and longevity of a scent and product, Arora explained.

Sacheerome’s five-storey office also houses a library of over 700 flower oils imported from around the world and India. Some are manufactured synthetically and come from variations of lavender, marigold, a variety of roses and bergamot. These oils have been used in making a concoction of 10,000-plus fragrances and flavours that go into pretty much everything that is being sold by retailers across India.

“Perfumery is a mix of science, art and skill. With decades of experience and exposure to the best in the world, we have the skill and technology to develop very unique notes. The world is also coming to India for perfumery because we have precious oils and ingredients like oud, sandalwood, vetiver and musk, which are dominating the market across categories," said Arora.

Some end-to-end products can take up to two years to create.

For this season, body washes and shampoos are using floral, fruity and gourmet notes while fine fragrances are using wood, oud, musk and amber, he said. “Smells and scents are important. Imagine when you start your day and your favourite toothpaste doesn’t taste like what it should. You will not feel fresh. Everything we buy has a scent to distinguish it from everything else available in the market."

The company also caters to the smell and flavour needs of sectors like beverages, bakeries, confectionery, dairy, shisha and tobacco, as well as seasonings.

“In the early ’80s India’s FMCG manufacturing was entirely dependent on imported smells and tastes. I recognised this, and that is when I set out to learn about fragrance formulation and production in Grasse, France and Holzminden, Germany, training under revered perfumers like Hans Ulrich Warnecke of Dragaco (now Symrise) and Jerry Field of P&G," Arora said.

He cited data from 2019, when the Indian fragrances and flavours industry was valued at approximately $1.4 billion. It is now expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15% to reach $3.3 billion over 2019-2025. The FMCG non-food industry is also expected to grow at 7% CAGR compared with the expected 1.7% growth of mature markets like the US, he added.

The company is eyeing a turnover of ?500 crore by FY25 on the back of strong growth in FMCG segments. It has also been working on newer categories such as high-end perfumes and supplying scents of candles to American businesses for the next phase of growth.

To meet the demands of a growing business, the manufacturer and supplier of concentrated fragrances and flavours is adding a 300,000 sq ft. facility in Greater Noida. The project will take three years to complete, Arora said.

With around 30 years and 10,000 products, Arora is perhaps present in every Indian household, but he’s not satisfied. He wants to set up a school to bring more people into the profession. It will be like a diploma course, wherein people with a good sense of smell will be taken on as trainees, junior perfumers and flavorists to learn on-the-job.

“ISIPCA in Versailles, France, provided this type of training. We are in touch with the senior facility members to consult with them for our project," he added.